CALOOCAN CITY, May 8 (PIA) -- In its continuous commitment to provide its public school students quality education amidst the pandemic, the City Government of San Juan, led by Mayor Francis Zamora, Converge ICT Solutions, Inc., headed by CEO and Co-Founder Dennis Anthony Uy, with Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo, formally launched the FreeFiber Optic Internet and Learning Management System for San Juan Public School students on Friday at the Sta. Lucia Elementary School.
In partnership with the Converge ICT Solutions, Inc., all San Juaneño K12 students enrolled in San Juan City public schools and living in the city have each been provided with fast and reliable fiber optic internet connection with WIFI modem for online education. Installation started November of last year for the over 12,000 students living in over 6,000 households.
“Simula sa araw na ito, kaya kong sabihin na hindi madedehado ang mga kabataang San Juan sa online education sapagkat lahat ng kailangan nila from tablet na may ka-partner na internet connection ay nandyan na po para sa kanila kaya ngayon pong nasa gitna tayo ng pandemya ay talagang napakalaking tulong nito sa ating mga kabataan, ako rin po ay nagpapasalamat sa mga naging bahagi ng programang ito”, Mayor Zamora said.
The fiber optic internet connection was fully activated and can already be accessed by the students starting today. This new learning management system will provide them a faster and better connection during their online classes.
To give a glimpse of how the new learning system works, teacher Danica from Sta. Lucia Elementary School provided a walk through and demo class after the ceremonial switch on.
Education has always been one of the main priorities of the Zamora administration. He further amplified this commitment saying, “not even the pandemic can hinder our mission to provide our students quality education”.
“Ang San Juan po ay naglaan ng sapat na pondo para sa edukasyon ng mga kabataan dahil bilang mayor ako po ay naniniwala na ang pondasyon ng ating kabataan para sa kanilang maayos na kinabukasan ay ang mataas na kalidad ng edukasyon at iyan po ang nararanasan ng mga kabataan dito sa Lungsod ng San Juan”, he said and added, “Our public school students have consistently fared as champions during academic competitions not only in regional levels but in international contests as well. These accomplishments should not be compromised just because of our current plight.”
The Mayor however said that this program for education has already been introduced upon his assumption of office as part of his platform and prior to the pandemic.
“Ang programang ito ay hindi lamang dahil sa COVID, even prior to the COVID-19, bahagi na po ito ng aking platform sa isang Makabagong San Juan, nagkataon lang na nagkaroon ng COVID kaya naging mas importante ang pangangailangan natin for online education”, he further explained.
Converge CEO and Co-founder, Dennis Uy, on the other hand shared that this program is its first partnership with the government and San Juan City has served as model for the other LGUs to emulate. Converge just inked an agreement with the Department of Education two weeks ago to replicate what San Juan City has done.
“This is the first digital complete platform sa buong Pilipinas, two weeks ago, nagkaroon na tayo ng agreement with the Department of Education headed by Secretary Leonor Briones at ito po ay ia-adopt na nationwide at ang San Juan ang nagsilbing model”, Mr. Uy said.
He added that this program is also part of Converge’s Corporate Social Responsibility.
DepEd Undersecretary, Revsee Escobedo personally thanked the San Juan City Government for initiating this program and talked about how the convergence of various sectors can get us through the pandemic.
“Maraming salamat Mayor Francis sa malaking tulong ninyo sa Department of Education dahil malaking parte ito sa ginagawang DepEd Computerization Program at ang bagong inilunsad na Public Education Network ng DepEd,” Undersecretary Escovedo said.
“Dahil sa covergence ng national government, ng government agencies kagaya ng DepEd, ng local governments at ng private sector kayang-kaya nating balikatin kahit may kinakaharap tayong pandemya”, he furthered.
A week ago, the city government, in partnership with the DICT, turned over a total of 12,500 tablets, 1,000 laptops and 1,000 pocket WIFIs to all the public schools and PTA representatives to be distributed to all the K-12 public school students. Distribution to parents are set to finish this week.
“The free internet connection just rounded off my promise to the students, this will not only relieve the families from the burden of paying for internet connection but will also ensure that our less privileged but deserving students from public schools will not be left behind in this new norm of learning,” Mayor Zamora said and declared, “We now have a 1 is to 1 ratio of San Juaneño public school students living in San Juan and studying in San Juan public schools vs. tablets and laptops (for grade 3-6 Pinaglabanan Elementary School students). As of 2019, we have already achieved a 1 is to 1 ratio of laptops vs San Juan public school teachers.”
Joining the launch were Dr. Wilfredo Cabral, DepEd-NCR Regional. (PIA NCR)
Source: Philippines Information Agency (pia.gov.ph)
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