A new school building funded by the Japanese government was recently opened for children of the B'laan tribe in the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao.
Around 80 percent of the 10,000 residents in Mindanao's remote village of San Jose belong to the B'laan tribe, one of the more than 100 ethnolinguistic groups in the country. They rely on farming or work on fruit plantations, with most families struggling financially.
In an interview, tribal leader Macay Col said younger members never had any prospects, but with the opening of the new school building, "the youth of our tribe are willing to finish their studies. There is great interest. So hopefully, they will have better livelihoods in the future."