Tagum City, Davao del Norte-Thousands of disadvantaged students will soon gain internet literacy after the provincial government and the Gilas project teamed up to connect 34 public high schools in the province to the cyberspace.
A deal was struck between governor Rodolfo Del Rosario and Ayala Foundation, Inc. center for social development and Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (Gilas) director Mario Deriquito for the implementation of the Gilas project that would provide free internet access to public high schools in the province. Schools division superintendent Dr. Aurora Cubero was also on hand for the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) .
The partnership will put up a combined financial resources of 9.1 million pesos.
With Globe as its internet service provider, Gilas, a multisectoral consortium that aims to provide internet access for students and basic internet literacy programs to all public secondary schools in the country, will provide the server, local area network (LAN) peripherals, printers and a one-year free internet connection to the beneficiary schools.
As counterpart, the provincial government of Davao del Norte will provide computers and pole-towered wireless internet facility to the recipient schools. Governor Rodolfo Del Rosario is releasing some 1.1 million pesos to kick start the project this month.
Del Rosario said in an interview the project aims to provide internet literacy and improve the performance level of the students in public high schools, where a great gap is noted between students who have access and the skills to use a the internet and those who don’t understand its vital importance.
The governor has put high premium on education and e-governance by including them under his development agenda.
“We want our students to gain leverage and to utilize the power of the computer and the internet in improving their academic performance by making them take part in the vast opportunities available online, particularly in education, information and communication, among others,” Del Rosario said.
According to the Davao Norte governor, the access and the ability to effectively use the information and communication technology are increasingly becoming more important in the daily economic, political and social life.
“It is important to have a working knowledge on ICT in order to take more active part in today’s information-based economy, in which many more jobs will be related to computers,” he added.
The provincial government will assist the Education department schools division of Davao del Norte in the implementation of the project, particularly in terms of teacher’s training, technical assistance and in the maintenance and sustainability of the project after the lapse of the one-year free internet connection.
Also present during the MOA signing were provincial administrator Rufo Peligro, Gilas Mindanao senior manager Archimedes Velasco, and provincial legal officer Atty. Jennifer Namoc. (PGO-ID)
