The Marikina City government has procured additional school chairs this year to ensure that all public elementary and secondary schools in the city will have enough school furniture, Mayor Marcelino "Marcy" Teodoro said Friday.
"Incidentally, we procured the said school furniture that we need before the opening of classes," Teodoro said in an interview during the initial turnover of the newly redesigned school chairs and tables at the San Roque Elementary School in Marikina City.
At least 100 school chairs were donated by McDonald's Philippines through the ReClassified Project, an initiative that sees the transformation of materials from renovated McDonald's stores to redesigned school chairs and tables, intended to improve students' learning experiences across the country.
Teodoro said there were 2,000 damaged school chairs in Marikina that need to be repaired or replaced.
"Our thinking here is that we need to have a stockpile of extra school chairs, so in case of damage, we could immediately replace it," Teodoro said.
He thanked McDonald's Philippines for choosing Marikina and his alma mater, San Roque Elementary School, as the first beneficiary of this project.
Teodoro is an alumnus of the school, where his mother was a teacher during that time.
"Education is a responsibility for everybody, and we're happy for this strategic partnership with McDonald's Philippines. This partnership is important not only in the provision of jobs but also in providing quality education," he said.
Adi Hernandez, McDonald's Philippines AVP for Corporate Relations, said they would continue this initiative as more McDonald's stores are being renovated every year.
"Since this is the first, we want to learn more from it on how we can improve it in terms of design and safety," Hernandez said in a separate interview.
"Next year, we're definitely have more of these ReClassified chairs," she added.
As McDonald's continuously renovates at least 60 restaurants every year, it found an opportunity to address this need by upcycling and repurposing materials coming from these renovated stores, creating school equipment that students can reliably and more comfortably use.