One set of school-in-a-bag was recently turned over to E. Angala Sr. Memorial Elementary School in Barangay Maputi, Municipality of Banaybanay, Davao Oriental by SMART-PLDT Foundation in cooperation with Huawei Technologies Philippines through the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The school-in-a-bag contains one unit of laptop for teachers, 10 units of tablets for students and one Smart LTE Pocket Wifi loaded with P500 load.
For teachers and students to maximize the devices, Smart PLDT has preloaded them with educational learning contents such as mother-tongue based literacy applications called LearnSmart, DOST-Science Education Institute Science and Math Courseware mobile app, financial literacy, disaster preparedness, among other digital contents.
The School-in-a-bag is a portable and mobile set of technology gadgets and learning materials that can be carried to areas outside the school to conduct literacy classes.
“We are hoping that thru this portable digital classroom package, we will be able to help the students of your school as they now return to face-to-face or in-person classroom,” said Romel Canaya of PLDT-Smart Foundation during the turnover ceremony on Aug 24, 2022.
In her message, Regional Director Evamay Dela Rosa of DICT was hopeful that the turned over digital equipment would empower the community near the E. Angala Sr. Memorial Elementary School and will motivate the students to study more, and enter STEM classes which focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics leading to innovations.
“Hangyo nako nga atong i-take advantage ang equipment naa diri, dili lang ma-store sa bodega ug atong ampingan kini. ( I am requesting that let us take advantage the equipment that’s here and would not store them in the bodega and let us take care of them.),” she said.
DICT together with Smart-PLDT Foundation and Huawei piloted the E. Angala Sr. Memorial Elementary School in rolling out this kind of project intended for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs).
In respose, Banaybanay Municipal Mayor Lemuel Ian Larcia assured DICT of the continued support and patronage for DICT programs having been a recipient of DICT projects such as the Free-Wife-For-All, the Electronic Business Permit and Licensing System on top of the School-In-A-Bag.
He also assured DICT to funnel more LGU resources for technology advancement to propel development in the municipality of Banaybanay. (PIA XI/ Jean Magan Duron Abangan)
