Increasing Strand Productivity and Sustainability through Social Enterprise: The Pantay Integrated High School's DumPET Experience

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Social Enterprising has become a new paradigm shift in Entrepreneurship. More than raising profits, social enterprises channel their productivity towards a social purpose. This paper will present a developing social enterprise project entitled "Project DumPET", and interpret its sustainability through the experiences of Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) instructors and students of Pantay Integrated High School.

METHODS

Being qualitative in nature, the study documented the conceptualization and implementation of ProjectDumPET through observations, interviews, and focus group discussions involving two TVL instructors and 17 SMAW students directly involved in the project.

RESULTS

What was once a group project in one of the SMAW classes, Project DumPET has grown to become a thriving school-based social enterprise among the Technical-Vocational-Livelihood students of Pantay Integrated High School. It has already benefitted 639 junior and senior high school students in its school and the bins have been distributed to 10 elementary schools and 7 private companies in Tanauan City and nearby municipalities. The sales of the bins provided allowances to the indigent SMAW students and ensured sustainability in its operations. There has been increasing desire among the student partners to put up a similar business and engage in related profitable yet meaningful business ventures.

DISCUSSIONS

The success of the project prompted the school's internal stakeholders to conduct orientations by purok or zone to further educate the members of adjacent communities about waste segregation and 3Rs (Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle) and to fully support the initiatives of such student-initiated social enterprise and environmental advocacy.