Malaysian company Big Bad Wolf (BBW) Books donated 1000 books to the Department of Education (DepEd) and 500 books to INNOTECH on Tuesday to further improve literacy among Filipino youth.
“We champion not just reading, we champion education, literacy in general,” Lesley Reinares-Almeda, country manager of BBW Books Philippines, told BusinessWorld in an interview.
“When we donate, it’s not for us to feel good, but for us to keep on being true to our mission of changing the world one book at a time,” she added.
The donated books, which are fiction, non-fiction, and children’s stories, will be distributed in public schools and the INNOTECH public library in Quezon City.
“Our learners are from pre-school up until college,” Ms. Almeda said. “We try to create the books as well based on the needs of the beneficiary.”
Apart from the donation, the BBW Books held a two-day book expo, featuring around 300,000 books from international and local publishers, at the INNOTECH L.B. Soriano Hall & Lobby Area from August 26 to 27.
“We wanted it to be accessible and affordable, not just for SEAMEO INNOTECH employees, but around the community of UP Diliman as well,” said the BBW executive.
According to the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education, and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS), 93.1% of respondents are basic literate, or can read, write, and compute; however, only 70.8% are considered functionally literate, or able to comprehend.
The local statistics agency said that for every nine individuals aged 10 to 64 who can read, write, and compute, two have difficulty with comprehension. – Almira Louise S. Martinez