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US, partners give PH schools P10-M worth of laptops, tablets
MANILA – The United States and its Philippine partners have donated over PHP10 million worth of learning equipment to support early grade reading in the country, the US Embassy in Manila said Thursday.
At least 100 “school-in-a-bag” kits were turned over to select schools in Bicol, Western Visayas, Maguindanao, Cotabato Special Geographic Area, Cotabato City, and other schools associated with the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) remote learning study.
Each kit contains a laptop computer, 10 tablets with one terabyte of memory each, and pocket Wi-Fi preloaded with PHP500 worth of internet access.
“Through the Smart School-in-a-Bag initiative, we will be able to advance digital literacy amid and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in remote areas that lack access to technology,” USAID Philippines Acting Deputy Mission Director Brandon Miller said.
“We will continue to forge partnerships with the private sector, local government units, and local communities so that every child has access to a quality education,” he added.
The initiative is in partnership with Smart Communications and Philippine Business for Social Progress. The kits will be distributed by the Department of Education.
The tablets will be loaded with e-resources such as DepEd TV episodes, interactive literacy primers in mother tongue languages, USAID-supported e-books, and other digital resources that can bridge the digital divide and improve early grade reading, especially for students in the most remote areas of the country.
“We thank our partners, USAID, Smart Communications, and PBSP for this undertaking. Truly, bayanihan is very much alive in DepEd even as we face very difficult challenges to make sure that learning will continue,” DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said.
“We recognize the value of harnessing the generosity of our partners and stakeholders in improving learning outcomes of our learners, especially in Last Mile Schools,” he added.
Jay Mark Hernandez
May 19, 2022 at 8:38 AM
Wow okay na okay for all students na may problema sa education when it comes to online. Isa din itong para mahatid ang quality education na kailangan ng isang student. Good job for this wonderful project.
Jay Soliman
May 19, 2022 at 9:26 AM
Great, Supporting each other country for the good of all. Money is just a piece of material in this world, when we put that money into something cool and powerful we can create a diverse of happiness and smile on the children the one who will recieved this lovely tablets. i hope also that the one who recieve it will care and use it as a tool for him/her dreams.
Vee-Jay Lee
May 19, 2022 at 9:37 AM
Yey, I will be happy also if I will give that precious tablet or laptop for my educations. But nevertheless we shall also think, and from my opinions is this a free or a loan, if free I will be happy as I should because it will really help our citizen who are lacking of gadgets that are needed and while from loan, it is unpractical because we will pay that with our taxes with our hard earn money. I hope it will clear and all free so that it will be the supposed 10-Million worth of laptops and tablet for schools for it students for the one who will be needed.