PLDT educates with digital solutions

More than 400,000 beloved teachers went online to attend the PLDT Gabay Guro Virtual Grand Gathering on 3 October 2020! This annual get-together is the culmination of Gabay Guro’s commitment to acknowledge and honor the sacrifices and efforts of educators nationwide, and most especially for this year, to celebrate their dedication and perseverance as Philippine education makes a rapid shift to digital transformation. Here’s a quick look-back on that fun-filled day!

BOOSTING E-LEARNING IN THE PANDEMIC

PLDT and Smart recognize quality education as a foundation in improving people’s lives and obtaining sustainable development. True to the company’s commitment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal #4: Quality Education, this continues to be the group’s flagship corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) program, with a strong emphasis on digital literacy.

PLDT and Smart have developed pandemic-resilient educational services and solutions for the Philippine Department of Education (“DepEd”). These include learning management systems, digital infrastructure and connectivity, wireless and fiber plans, and digital devices for the 1.2 million teachers and 32 million students in the country. To complement the technology solutions, Smart has offered to help teachers to use an innovative learning system - the CVIF-Dynamic Learning Program (CVIF-DLP) - which can used in modular, online and on-air learning settings. Developed by Ramon Magsaysay laureates and world-renowned theoretical physicists Dr. Christopher Bernido and Dr. Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido, the methodology works in all primary and secondary academic levels, as well as in the Alternative Learning System, and targets the entire spectrum of learners, including Special Education students.

Specially designed for online learning under the new normal, each waterresistant backpack now carries 20 student tablets that are pre-loaded with educational content - including award-winning mother tonguebased interactive apps developed by Smart and academic partners, a teacher’s laptop, a pocket WiFi kit, and more. With these enhancements, the total value of each School-in-aBag is ₱200,000 or approximately US$4,000. In October 2020, PLDT donated 15 School-in-a-Bag packages to the Department of Education (“DepEd”), part of the 70 bags that will be delivered to schools this year. These resulted from joint efforts among broadband services

Bridging the digital divide

PLDT and Smart continue to support students and teachers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with its flagship School-in-a-Bag program. This initiative is a portable digital classroom designed to support distance learning, even in remote areas without electricity and internet connectivity.

Specially designed for online learning under the new normal, each water-resistant backpack now carries 20 student tablets that are pre-loaded with educational content - including award-winning mother tongue-based interactive apps developed by Smart and academic partners, a teacher’s laptop, a pocket WiFi kit, and more. With these enhancements, the total value of each School-in-a-Bag is ₱200,000 or approximately US$4,000. In October 2020, PLDT donated 15 School-in-a-Bag packages to the Department of Education (“DepEd”), part of the 70 bags that will be delivered to schools this year. These resulted from joint efforts among broadband services provider PLDT Home, PLDT Enterprise, PSF, Smart’s flagship CSR, Smart Communities, and an employee fund-raising initiative, Smart Saturdays.

To date, PLDT, Smart and various donors have provided 300 portable digital classrooms to DepEd schools, which have helped bridge the digital divide for more than 80,000 underserved students and over 2,000 teachers nationwide.

A crucial role

“Heeding the call for businesses to rise to the challenges posed by the pandemic, PLDT and Smart are one with the DepEd in ensuring that learning continues. We recognize our important role to keep teachers, students and other members of the academic community connected,” PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel V Pangilinan said.

“We recognize the important role of communications in education. We look forward to the continuity of this tradition of partnership, generosity and advise as we work together with PLDT and Smart to look for new ways of delivering education to teachers and students,” said DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones.

Since the start of the COVID-19 health crisis, PLDT and Smart have stepped up education efforts to provide relevant tools, technologies, and information during the pandemic. In addition to the School-in-a-Bag donations and implementation of the CVIF - Dynamic Learning Program, the group facilitated zero-rating of the DepEd Commons online platform for subscribers to gain free access to lessons, provided communications support to DepEd’s frontliners, launched free airing of DepEd TV in two channels of affiliate company Cignal TV Inc., and released the Gabay Guro one-stop-app for digital educational resources in time for World Teachers Day 2020. <<