Name of unique college inspired by People’s Park

THE proponent of a novel lifelong education system to be introduced in Davao soon has been inspired to name his school after the People’s Park.
Peter Reger, a German economist who stayed in Davao City for four years as economic consultant of the BIMP-Eaga (Borneo Indonesia Malaysia Philippines- East Asia Growth Area) and the Mindanao Business Council (MBC), is establishing an affordable, lifelong educational system open to the common people to attain a sustainable system in the Philippines. The system is called People’s College International (PCI).
Reger, CEO of PCI, attended yesterday’s Club 888 forum at The Marco Polo Davao to explain the learning system which is affordable to common people, especially those who are already above the college level age.
He said People’s College is so-called because it is an open system like the People’s Park, which is open to all Dabawenyos and visitors.
“Honestly, the name came from People’s Park because it is open to everyone, and I was thinking of a name for a college which is open to everyone, I thought, ‘People’s College’ would be the best name for it,” he said, by way of explaining the background of PCI’s name.
Reger said that his proposed college system, which he still has to discuss with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, was an answer to one of the concerns discussed in the human development cluster headed by Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman during the Philippine Development Forum at The Marco Polo Davao last February 4. He said the cluster came up with one recommendation, which is to integrate a system or policy for lifelong learning for the Philippine Development Plan.
“This is where PCI comes in because, people are the main resource of the Philippines and we need to give people aged 30 to 50 access to knowledge, competence and skills development,” he said.
He said “this is the challenge that PCI can address by providing lifelong learning and affordable educational system to everyone to develop himself or herself.”
Regor, who is German, based this educational system on the more than 110 years of experience in the adult learning system in Germany which has more than six million participants each year.
He said that there are many well-trained people in Davao City who are equipped with the right knowledge and there are schools which are not used at night. He pointed out that, “if the mayor says, let’s use these resources for learning, then we can link the people with knowledge and facilities to those who need it.”
“This (People’s College) can be a corner stone for job creation and poverty reduction because even citizens aged 30, 50, or 60 can learn through these lifelong learning systems, the latest technologies in Information technology which is designed to help communities in the Philippines to reach educational challenges and establish a sustainable system in the localities of the people,” Reger said.
Reger said, “We need three months feasibility study for this educational system and we will be presenting it to the government and wait for them to say yes to it.”
He also added that there will be a 20 peso per hour charge for participation in this educational system because “when you give it for free, people may not value it.”a