RECOGNIZING the vast opportunities available in the growing information and communication technology (ICT) industry, STI Foundation for Leadership in Information Technology and Education Inc. (STI Foundation) has renewed its partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) by arming the Filipino youths with the right knowledge and skills needed in this field via STI’s Mobile School, or much known as Computer Lab on Wheels.
Seeing the need for computer access on a national scale, Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, lauded the foundation’s initiative to drive ICT literacy among the young population. “In the Philippines there are a lot of areas where either because there are no connectivity or there’s no electricity, the infrastructure for online education is not possible,” he said.
“And this is where the mobile school serves as an intervention at a critical time when that connectivity cannot be established,” he added.
Through this state-of-the-art rolling school, STI faculty members equip students from DepEd-accredited high schools with skills on computer concepts, GNU Image Manipulation Program, multimedia animation, morphing animation, audio editing and movie presentation by way of ICT-enhanced training sessions. Also, it provides public-school teachers with ICT literacy and hones the IT education they will, in turn, teach to their students.
All of the six STI’s Mobile Schools are equipped with computer laboratories with Internet access, LCD monitors and sound systems.
“Our mobile schools act as our extended classrooms. We reach out and we deliver IT classes to those who need better access to IT schools, which also plays a part in fulfilling our duty to make education accessible,” noted STI Foundation President Monico V. Jacob in a statement. To date, STI’s Mobile Schools have benefited and trained more than 105,000 elementary and secondary students, employees and other individuals from 872 sites across the country.
Through this noble cause, STI was feted with Award of Excellence at the 45th Anvil Awards by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, as well as an Award of Merit from the Philippine Quill Awards.
“In our time when the IT industry is at its peak, having good computer skills is a big advantage for the younger generation. In every student that we teach, we progress in our movement toward spreading ICT literacy in the country. We want our learners to have competent computer skills that they can use when they work for their chosen fields and for them to pay it forward to other students,” Jacob said.