Caritas Manila, the social service arm of the Archdiocese of Manila believes that education is one of the solutions to alleviate poverty in the country.

According to Fr. Anton CT Pascual, executive director of Caritas Manila, this is the main goal of the Caritas Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program (YSLEP) which supports four to five thousand college scholars every year.

“At Caritas Manila, we strongly believe in the effectiveness of education in alleviating and eradicating poverty,” said Fr. Pascual who is also the president of Radio Veritas.

Fr. Pascual shared that there were 800 to 1,000 students from colleges nationwide who graduated through YSLEP every year.

Last year, Caritas Manila’s scholarship program recorded the highest number of college graduates reaching 1,695.

“In a few years, you can actually see the effectiveness of the program and directly witness the improvement of a once impoverished family to a family with dignity and the means to lift themselves out of poverty,” according to Fr. Easter.

Fr. Pascual also called on the Filipino people to unite and support YSLEP so that more and more poor students will have the opportunity to finish college and eventually improve the lives of their families. (Jheng Prado/RCAM-AOC | Photos from Caritas Manila Facebook page)