Four public schools in Cebu Province benefitted from the recent holding of the Asian Carriers Conference (ACC) 2016 in Lapu-Lapu City, having been picked as recipients of 20 tablets and 20 laptops plus free Internet connectivity under the ACC, Inc. education program.
PLDT provided the tablets and free six months of DSL connection while Huawei gave the laptops to the Carmen National High School, Cordova National High School, Argao National High School, and Babag II High School, said PLDT head of operations for Cebu, Bohol, Samar, and Leyte Elmer “Bong” Lintag.
The turnover ceremony for ACC’s corporate social responsibility program “Daogmaon: Winning Children’s Future Against Illiteracy” was held on September 9, 2016, the last day of the conference.
Better connected world
Fedellina Entero, Carmen National High School principal, said the donation will serve to improve education and benefit their students as it will allow them to learn at their own pace. Students enrolled at the Special Education (SPED) class can also make use of the gadgets and laptops.
“Your support is instrumental in helping DepEd (Department of Education) turn its mission and vision into reality,” she added.
Huawei said in a statement that introducing students to ICT early is important to sustain the requirement for more qualified workers in the industry.
Gao Kexin, Huawei Philippines chief executive, added in the statement that the donation serves as the company’s support to PLDT and ACC and gift to public school students in Cebu. According to him, one of the company’s objectives is “to provide technology-aided education for the youth at the earliest time” in line with its long-term vision to build “a better connected world.”
PLDT connectivity
Carmen, which also hosts a night high school, will be provided a container van that PLDT will convert into a computer laboratory
Lintag said he personally vetted the four schools, picking those who needed the donation the most. He added that PLDT undertakes regular assistance under Gabay Guro, an education-related CSR program, which has scholarship, teacher training, livelihood, computers, classrooms, and connectivity as its six pillars.
The 20 gadgets and 20 laptops, which make up the set that each school will receive, would be useless on their own without connectivity, he pointed out. This is why PLDT will also provide free DSL connection to the four schools for the first six months. The schools will also receive pocket Wi-Fi devices from Smart Communications, Inc.
