The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) provides digital literacy instruction to children from the Southern Philippine Medical Center (SPMC)-House of Hope for Kids with Cancer, Inc. The SPMC is a government hospital under the Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH).
The purpose of the two-day in-person training programme is to improve the children’s computer literacy. Given that most House of Hope patients was also enrolled at Dumanlas Elementary School Annex, it is anticipated that the acquired abilities will be beneficial to their education and learning.
“This digital literacy training aims to bring enthusiasm to our youth and their parents. That despite their current situation, they can still enjoy the benefits of technology, especially in continuing their education,” says Evamay C. Dela Rosa, Director, DICT Region XI.
The House of Hope is in the heart of Davao City, Philippines, and provides a temporary residence for children with cancer. Some children remain in the facility for months, while others remain for years to receive the required treatment.
Five children’s residents of the House of Hope attended the workshop, together with eight parents and two teachers from Dumanlas Elementary School. During the sessions, the resource speakers imparted fundamental information on ICT-related topics to increase the attendees’ digital literacy.
The DICT regional offices remain committed to implementing its Specialised ICT Training Programmes, which are tailored to meet the specific needs of marginalised sectors around the nation.
In addition, 65 Indigenous People (IPs) from the Manide Tribe in the province of Camarines Norte, Bicol were trained by the DICT- Technology for Education, Employment, Entrepreneurs, and Economic Development (Tech4ED) Programme in the fundamentals of computer technology, the internet, and basic computer navigation.
The objective of the face-to-face training was to shape participants into responsible digital citizens through a combination of lectures and engaging computer tasks. The members of the Manide Tribe were able to see the potential and benefits that await them in cyberspace.
Meanwhile, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) personnel in Quezon II province are enhancing their database system by implementing the Operational Tool (OpTool) mechanism for the collection, input, and monitoring of the status of landholdings covered by the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme (CARP) and Presidential Decree No. 27.
According to Engr. Cornelio P. Villapando, Provincial Agrarian Reform Program Officer II, the DAR-Bureau of Land Tenure Improvement’s central repository system is OpTool (BLTI). OpTool offers information on the agency’s objectives, achievements, and other particulars, such as profiles of landowners and agrarian reform beneficiaries, location, and the number of hectares covered by the programme, among others.
He further stated that OpTool is an effective technique for working with diverse BLTI data. The field office and central office communicate in real-time to closely monitor the progress of each work to generate reliable and accurate data to enhance the overall efficiency of DAR operations. The OpTool delivers daily, up-to-date information provided by the DAR central, regional, and provincial offices to improve the DAR management’s analysis and decision-making.
During a meeting, BLTI officials and personnel presented the agency’s current data, as determined by OpTool, as well as the significant difficulties and challenges facing the data monitoring system. The DAR field workers provided clarifications and actual scenarios, leading to an intelligent discussion of operational concerns and issues.
