About 1,400 public elementary school students from the province of Aklan are now experiencing being part of the Global Filipino School (GFS) Program with their new Internet-connected computer laboratory.
The “connected” students are from New Washington Elementary School in Aklan which received 24 computers and 10 tablets, Internet connectivity, and other peripherals from Globe Telecom and Ayala Foundation.
The project is endorsed and assisted by the Municipal Government of New Washington and the Department of Education Division of Aklan.
Ayala Foundation president Ruel Maranan said of the partnership, “Through programs such as GFS, we hope to make an impact in the lives of the people in our program communities. We also hope that this will encourage them to contribute to improving the lives of the people living in their local community, their province, and ultimately the country.”
Yoly Crisanto, SVP for Corporate Communications at Globe Telecom, explained the GFS goal, “We want to give Filipinos, especially those who are underprivileged yet deserving, more access to education opportunities through ICT. Thus, we are confident that through GFS, we can be instrumental in increasing the quality of learning in public schools and give the Filipino youth a brighter future.”
The GFS team held training sessions for the Aklan school’s 50 teachers. The training covered ICT lab maintenance, on top of the Training Institute curriculum which focuses on the following areas: classroom pedagogy, development of critical thinking skills, values clarification, and use of technology in the classroom.
New Washington Elementary School is the fifth school to be part of the expanded GFS which was launched earlier this year in Cagayan de Oro City; Pandacan, Manila: and San Pascual, Batangas.
