Globe expands ICT investments for education

MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom has expanded its investment in the use of information and communications technology (ICT) for education with the creation of the Global Filipino Schools (GFS) program, a competency-building initiative to help students, teachers and school heads in select public high schools nationwide.

GFS makes use of ICT to encourage learning, enhance teaching, and ensure better school management. It is a three-year program which involves the upgrade of the school’s ICT infrastructure such as Internet connection and computer laboratory; ICT capacity-building for teachers and school heads; and implementation of programs that will enrich development and self-sufficiency of the communities.

“Globe leverages on technology intrinsic to our business and its known innovative spirit to help raise the bar of our country’s education system. Fundamentally, from an overall corporate perspective, education through ICT and connectivity would never reach the countryside without pervasive transmission infrastructure. To this end, we have been steadfastly building up our capacity to serve every Filipino’s ICT aspirations with network investments. As we launch the Global Filipino Schools program, Globe continues to push ICT as a key driver in the competitiveness of Filipinos while we help prepare our youth for the challenges of globalization,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said.

Through its corporate social responsibility arm Globe Bridging Communities, the company hopes to make a significant contribution in developing the public school system using mobile and broadband technologies as well as ICT capability building. In fact, among Globe advocacy areas, education takes about 60 percent of its CSR resources.

The GFS program is the culmination of almost a decade of Globe ICT efforts for the education sector starting with computer and Internet service donations under the Internet-in-Schools Program (ISP), learning through mobile phones via Text2Teach, ICT competency enhancement for teachers under the Global Filipino Teachers (GFT) program, and advanced mobile and broadband application training for students and teachers through Globe Labs.

To date, Globe has implemented Text2Teach in 350 public elementary schools in the poorest Philippine provinces; connected 2,012 public elementary and high schools to the Internet – the biggest number of school connectivity among local telecom companies; and graduated 250 teachers through GFT.

GFS will be conducted by Globe in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Coalition for Better Education (CBE) with support from Microsoft Philippines.

Globe will lead in GFS project management and resource mobilization with DepEd as co-convenor.

Through participating public schools, DepEd will help craft the blueprint of the program for replication, and monitor its implementation and results. CBE, on the other hand, will design and implement the GFS capacity-building phase while Microsoft will integrate its own ICT for education programs under the Partners in Learning initiative, provide program design and technical assistance, and give special academic rates for software licenses.

“We’re very pleased and excited to be part of the Global Filipino Schools program. This is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate the real-world benefits of applying technology in teaching and learning and encourage more schools to be innovative and transform the way students learn,” according to Arcy Bartolome, public sector director of Microsoft Philippines.

Meanwhile, CBE president Dr. CaridadLabe said: “The Coalition for Better Education is truly pleased to bear witness to the launch of a program that may be deemed too lofty by some, but for most of us who are painfully aware of its genuine state, would mean something that is long over due and well-deserved by the Philippine educational system. We need schools not just in terms of infrastructure, but those that can produce graduates whose capabilities to make significant contributions to the country and the rest of the world are at par with global standards.”

As first step, Globe and CBE have chosen Palo National High School in Eastern Visayas and Bilar National High School in Central Visayas to be the pilot schools of the GFS program since they are already in the early stages of introducing innovations in their system. Both schools have likewise shown potential in undertaking sustainable development projects as well as abilities to forge partnerships and collaboration with the community stakeholders.

More public high schools which have the potential to become “ICT excellent” will be identified later on, with the end goal of creating at least one GFS per region in the next three years beginning 2011. Globe also plans to invite local government units to take a look at the program and help fund one GFS in their own municipality in the next 10 years. –Mary Ann LL. Reyes (The Philippine Star)