ClassAct Foundation Philippines has started an action to rebuild new classrooms in the Philippines after disaster 

Nearly a year after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake and the consecutive typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda) shook Bohol, Philippines, 15,000 children are still in unstable makeshift classrooms after suffering the loss of 1,134 classrooms. Students hear lessons in tents made of tarp, which trap in the tropical heat and provide no protection from the flooded grounds. They’ve remarked that it is difficult to concentrate in such conditions and their quality of education suffers.

Schools are “the least prioritized infrastructure in reconstruction programs,” says Anna Maris Igpit, former Miss World Philippines and co-founder of ClassAct Foundation Philippines. Spurred by this need, a talented team of architects, designers, educators, humanitarians, and volunteers assembled to form ClassAct, with the mission to rebuild communities through education, with an eye towards sustainability and disaster preparedness. The ClassAct: Active School will be constructed with indigenous materials, local craftsmanship, and modern engineering for maximum resiliency, with porous walls made from woven screens and an elevated ground to allow for minimal flooding damage during the rainy season. The design is modeled after the traditional Filipino “verandah,” or open-living space, with formal spaces expanding into informal free spaces. These will be bright, interactive, and flexible to orient young minds to the notion that a place of learning has no fixed boundaries.

It was an important part of the project design to benefit as many community residents as possible. “It’s not just about the structure, but the social effect that a classroom can have for the students, for the teachers, and for the whole community,” says Aya Maceda, lead architect for ClassAct and recipient of Columbia University’s Percival and Naomi Goodman Fellowship. The local residents will have an active role in building and maintaining the structure with their inherent proficiency with the methods and materials. The school will be modern and multi-purpose, holding regular classes during the day and a vocational curriculum for youths and adults geared towards technology,entrepreneurship, and design in the after-hours. This will allow students to take part in the global marketplace, thus strengthening community development and economic stability. Each of the classrooms will be equipped with internet and interactive technology tools to enable open-education workshops and to connect with other institutions around the globe, providing access to specialized education even from their remote locations.

The Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization spurred by the sense of commitment of private individuals to devote their expertise, time and generosity of spirit in designing and activating projects focused on innovative education and information modules and structures that will incorporate indigenous materials and craftsmanship and help generate knowledge.

The Foundation veers away from the notion that rebuilding and rehabilitation is a just a matter of restoring the structures to the old forms and bringing back the communities to what they were before. Rather, the Foundation wishes to be a catalyst for societal change by making communities more habitable and humane. The Foundation will start with the place where every citizen of the country is molded: the classroom. The Foundation wishes to inspire a paradigm shift from a conventional, monotonous, structured and constricted system of education in the country to a more active, dynamic and student-centered educational system by creating active and functional spaces as venues for learning.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place in December 2013. For more information and to help fund rebuilding please visit class-act.ph or the ClassAct Kickstarter page at www.kck.st/1jyKlon

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