DepEd, STI relaunch IT Mobile School

The Department of Education (DepEd) and STI Foundation have re-launched the STI Mobile School in an effort to make education accessible to all. (Photo: STI (Official Fan Page)/ Facebook)

MANILA–The Department of Education (DepEd) and STI Foundation have re-launched the STI Mobile School in an effort to make education accessible to all.

“There is a saying that ‘If Muhammad does not go to the mountain, then the mountain goes to Muhammad.’ And so if the child does not go to school, then the school will go to the child. This is the concept of the STI, which we support very, very strongly, and which we believe in,” Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said in a department news release issued Wednesday.

To strengthen their partnership, the department and STI Education Services Group, Inc. have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA), under which they would bring the school to students; reach out to out-of-school youths; capacitate DepEd faculty members and administrators; and emphasize innovation and technology, said Monico Jacob, STI Education Services Group, Inc. CEO and vice chairperson

The STI Mobile School is a computer laboratory on wheels, equipped with basic computer modules for public high school students and teachers.

Its learning modules consist of computer concepts, office productivity tools and information technology. It also has multimedia tools, such as photography and image manipulation, 3D animation and video editing.

The STI has six Mobile Schools, three of which are going around Metro Manila and nearby areas in Luzon; one in Visayas; and two in Mindanao.

Since the agreement with DepEd in 2015, the Mobile School has catered to 126,716 elementary and high school students nationwide through its 947 sites.

“We are aware of the fact that more than 5 million children are out of the school system. We are also aware that our 25 million learners in the school system need to be capacitated, to be upgraded. Not only our learners but also our teachers need to be capacitated as well,” Briones said

“This is where STI has been playing a very important role as a partner, as a system of learning, focusing on technology, as well as other useful professions. We are partnering with STI so that we can move faster.”

The STI provides a technician on board the bus to inspect and ensure that the computers are in good working condition, train IT officers in schools, and conduct regular reports to DepEd.