Island studes get technology boost
Students in the sm all island of Calituban, Bohol have faced a long li st of learning challenges – from the 2013 earthquake th at damaged school buildings, to supertyphoon Yolanda with its ac companying devastation.
“We live in an island that is prone to typhoons. Mo st of our students, honestly, are left behind,” said John Pearlnel P. Amit, a kindergarten teacher in Calituban Elementary School.
He added that aside from facing weather disturbances that cause class suspensions, the school lacked facilities, equipment, and instructional ma terials that enhance student learning.
Amit is thus very happy that Calituban Elementary Sc hool was chosen as recipient of a School-in-aBag package developed by PLDT mobile unit Smart Communications.
“It will bring technology closer to us. Our students will be given the chance to make use of technology tools so they can learn a lot of things,” he said.
Calituban Elementary Sc hool is one of two remote schools in Bohol th at recently received an educational bundle co nsisting of a laptop, tablets, digital learning content, solar panel, LED TV, and pocket Wi-Fi with st arter load. The other recipient is Bilang-Bilangan Elementary School, which is located on a small island that is an hour-long boat ride away from the port town of Talibon.
The Smart School-ina-Bag units were turned over by the PLDT-Smart Foundation (PSF), following a generous donation fr om UBS Investments Ph ilippines. UBS’ P1 million donation will allow the PSF to distribute Schoolin-a-Bag packages to 10 public schools in remote areas all over the country.
“We decided, together wi th One Meralco Fo undation, to choose island schools that have no access to power. In Luzon, we picked schools with indigenous people as students. For Visayas and Mindanao, we looked at areas that are disasterprone,” said PSF president Esther Santos.
“We thank our partner PLDT-Smart Foundation for bringing the School-ina-Bag to two island schools in Bohol. Our island schools la ck ICT (information an d communications technology) materials. The donation is in line with the aim of the K to12 Curriculum which is to develop 21st ce ntury learners,” said Bohol Schools Division Superintendent Wilfreda D. Bongalos.
Meanwhile, BilangBi langan Elementary Sc hool principal Maria Lo relle Hoybea said, “As an island school, we’re very far from technology. Wi th School-in-a-Bag, our pupils will be exposed to new technology tools like tablets. This will be helpful to both the teachers and students.” She added that students would now be more encouraged to show up in class.
To date, close to 40 School-in-a-Bag units, each costing P100,000, have been distributed to public schools. Tw enty of these were sponsored by individuals and organizations like UBS; the rest were donated by Smart. Eleven are set to be turned over in the coming months.