FOUR of SM Foundation’s recent scholar graduates made it to the Top 10 of the 2015 national licensure exam for Engineering. 
 
In the ceremony to welcome the 267 SM scholars for 2015-16, who came from public high schools, the foundation honored the newly qualified engineers. 
 
The new scholars joined SM’s current 1,500 grantees enrolled in the foundation’s 84 partner schools nationwide. 
 
Aside from college scholarships, SM Foundation also supports the technical-vocational (tech-voc) education of qualified public high school graduates to equip them with the right skills and competencies to meet the needs of the labor market. 
 
Through its two partner schools—Punlaan School and Don Bosco Makati Technical Institution—SM Foundation offers tech-voc courses like Food and Beverage, Automobile Mechanic, Fitter Machinist, Electro-Mechanical Technician, and Refrigeration and Air-conditioning. 
 
A total of 148 tech-voc scholars graduated last year. 
 
By the end of 2015, SM Foundation had supported a total of 2,627 students nationwide who went to college or tech-voc schools. 
 
The foundation also supports public education through its School Building Program. In 2015, it completed eight school buildings with 32 classrooms. Each two-story building has four classrooms and is furnished with 200 student armchairs, 16 wall fans, eight blackboards, four teacher’s desks and four toilets.
 
One of last year’s beneficiaries was Wawang Pulo Elementary School in Valenzuela. With 868 students, each classroom had 40-60 students. 
 
Before the new school building was completed, some students used rooms in the nearby Wawang Pulo National High School while special education classes were held at the second floor hallway. 
 
The elementary school’s new building, donated by SM Prime Holdings Inc., SM Foundation and Deutsche Bank AG Manila, provided rooms for 395 students, including 15 special education students. 
 
SM Foundation ensures that donated school buildings are regularly maintained. It repairs and renovates buildings every five years. In 2015, SM Foundation repaired six school buildings. 
 
By the end of 2015, SM Foundation had donated 75 school buildings with 227 classrooms and repaired 24 school buildings with 58 classrooms.