Elementary schools in upland and coastal Zamboanga del Norte to improve education through clean energy soon
ZAMBOANGA CITY – Six elementary schools in Sibuco District in Zamboanga del Norte, 77 kilometers from Zamboanga City, will soon have access to electricity sourced from clean energy source.
A Memorandum of Understanding, intended to facilitate the collaboration between parties in school electrification and education activities, was signed today (August 24) between the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy Program and the Department of Education-Sibuco District for the electrification of six schools using solar photovoltaic modules.
These schools are Pangian Elementary School, Mantivoh Elementary School, Paniran Elementary School, Binawing Elementary School, Cawit-Cawit Elementary School, Sta. Maria Elementary School
Electricity from renewable energy would allow the schools’ nearly 2000 students access to distance education materials such as the Education thru Multimedia (E-Media) materials from the ABS-CBN Foundation.
AMORE is a rural electrification program that energizes remote, off-grid communities in Mindanao using stand-alone renewable energy systems such as solar photovoltaic and microhydro technologies. Since 2002, the program has provided energy to over 13,000 households in 474 remote, off-grid and mostly conflict –affected barangays across Mindanao. Committed to bringing renewable energy-based social services, the program has also forged partnerships with other like-minded organizations for its safe water and school electrification and distance education initiatives.
Since 2002, more than 44,000 students in over 200 rural schools all over Mindanao had been given access to renewable energy-powered distance education facility.
For proper and effective utilization of the distance education facility, nearly twenty elementary school teachers from Sibuco District will undergo training on the effective use of educational multimedia materials.
The two-day training (August 24-25) aims to enhance the teaching skills of elementary school teachers from off-grid communities using educational materials in DVD format. Learning programs such as Sineskwela for Science, Mathtinik for Mathematics, Hiraya Manawari for Values Education, Bayani for Philippine History, and Epol/Apple for English will complement the Department of Education’s basic education curriculum, and will provide an enhanced teaching and learning experience for teachers and students.
“Emedia will certainly enhance our teaching capacity. The use of audio-visual materials in our classroom discussions will arouse the curiosity of our learners, some of them will see TV for the first time. And all of these would not have been possible had our school not been chosen to benefit from solar-powered educational media package from AMORE,” quipped Hulma Otoalih, a teacher participant from Pangian Elementary School.
The AMORE Program is a rural electrification alliance between the United States Agency for International Development, and the Philippine Department of Energy, SunPower Foundation and Winrock International.
SOURCE: http://www.zambotimes.com/archives/24188-Elementary-schools-in-upland-and-coastal-Zamboanga-del-Norte-to-improve-education-through-clean-energy-soon.html