The Landfill Community Learning Center was the first learning center built by PIKIFI. Constructions were finished in 2009, when PIKIFI had only 40 student beneficiaries. The demand increased rather fast. Soon 170 students were holding classes there. As the organization expanded its operations, the new Zion Community Learning Center was constructed as part of our Children’s Village and after its inauguration in November 2013 offered a learning space for 400 students. In partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), PIKIFI organizes the day school at the Learning Center. Kindergarten till Grade 6 students attend classes in 11 classrooms. DepEd now supplies the class teachers in the Center. PIKIFI employs additional teachers for remedial classes, operates the school canteen and offers psychosocial services to the students and their families. Since 2015, the Center also operates a Special Education (SpEd) class as part of the program. Some 20 children with learning disabilities and physical impairments attend the SpEd-class. DepEd also provides the special education teacher.
Nearly 70 % of the students are coming from the waste picker community at Landfill, which is the slum area surrounding the former open dumpsite of the city. Most of them are former waste pickers. All the other students are either coming from other slums of Cagayan de Oro, are living with their families in the streets or have found their new temporary home in our Children’s Village. Those coming from the slums and those living with their families in the streets in several rides get picked up every morning by our school busses and are driven back home after classes in the afternoon.
The school is free of charge. A hot meal for lunch and snacks in the morning and in the afternoon are offered as well. Mothers trained in culinary arts and hygiene prepare the lunch and snacks in the kitchen of the school canteen. This offers these women an alternative to waste picking or other hazardous and informal livelihoods. A school nurse visits the center once or twice a week to look after the health issues of the children. Incidence of malnutrition is also being checked. The dental hygiene of the children is also monitored and they are cleaning their teeth in the School every day. Besides that, we organize every year some medical and dental missions in close partnership with the local health authorities and health professionals.
Throughout the long school break in summer and during the holidays in November, PIKIFI is offering capability enhancing trainings and workshops for its employees and other interested individuals inside the Learning Center. In addition, summer camps and musical camps for the children are taking place in the center.