By YOLANDA Z. SOTELO

THE past days found me with school leaders of an elementary and high school and a tertiary school.

Who would not know Ednas School, already an institution as far as elementary and high school is concerned? It’s already 40 years old, and is celebrating its 40 years. They say life starts at forty, so Ednas is just to start its life.

Ednas School has been educating many Pangasinan children, and many of them have made it in their respective fields.

And now, the school wants to make an impact on the community on its 40th year. Its young students will donate three houses to the Gawad Kalinga Foundation this year, according to the school’s academic director Maria Edna Soledad Gonzales-Blancaflor.

That’s quite a long name. But she’s called Candy for short.

She said the Ednas School is celebrating its 40th anniversary on the last week of February and all its events– market fair, food fair, magic shows, battle of the bands, alumni homecoming, concert, and others – are geared towards raising enough funds to build three GKF houses.

Blancaflor said the school selected the GKF as its beneficiary because “we believe in what (it) does which is building communities, something which is very practical and very structured.”

She said through linking up with GKF, the young students will develop community involvement and will realize that there are people less fortunate than them, adding that this year’s project “will just be a springboard for a longer project.”

“Our plan is to partner with GKF for a longer time, make this activity every year. That’s our dream – to inspire and motivate the kids to help others,” she said.

The school hopes to collect at least P180,000 from its different fund raising activities during its anniversary celebration, which is enough to build three houses.

The GKF has a community project in barangay Bonuan Gueset .
Blancaflor is the eldest daughter of Edna Torio-Gonzales who founded Edna’s School in 1966 when she was only 22 years old. It started with 33 pre-school children in a rented classroom in Tapuac District.

The school, now located in a half-hectare lot behind the YMCA, offers up to secondary education. The apostrophe in Ednas was soon dropped and became an acronym meaning Educational Development of Noble and Adroit Students.
Ednas has two other campuses – one each in the cities of Alaminos and San Carlos .

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In another part of the city, a maritime school hit it big when it inked a memorandum of agreement with a Japanese shipping line, assuring the further training and employment of its graduates.

The Pimsat was selected by the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Limited, its local affiliates Magsaysay Institute of Shipping, Inc. (MIS) and the Magsaysay Maritime Corp/ Fairmont Shipping Limited as one of their “partners” in developing top quality maritime graduates which the Japanese shipping lines will eventually hire.

Pimsat President Rebene Carrera, said the school was selected by the company after a “rigid screening” of the school’s facilities, faculty qualifications and commitment to academic excellence.

The Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, which has an international fleet of cargo vessels, tankers, luxury vessels and passenger ships, currently employs 22,000 seafarers.

“The partnership is a great help to our students who will be assured of employment after graduation,” Carrera said.

Under the MOA, Pimsat graduates will undergo skills training and upgrading at the four-hectare campus of the MIS in Dasmariñas, Cavite .

Aside from nursing, seafaring is the industry that takes Filipinos abroad, but there is a shortage of competent marine personnel, thus the MIS enters into exclusive partnerships with maritime schools, Carrera said.