With the launch of the first-ever floating “Balsa Aralan” Tech4Ed Centre, it is now possible to bring digital opportunities to the far-flung Municipality of Balabac, Palawan, Philippines. This exciting new project is being run by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) MIMAROPA Regional Office and its DICT Palawan Provincial Office.
“Through our partnership and commitment towards public service, we aim to address the digital divide and educational needs of the unserved and underserved areas, particularly for the community of Rabor, Palawan and adjacent areas,” says Cheryl Ortega, DICT Regional Director for Regions IV-A (CALABARZON) and IV-B (MIMAROPA).
She also said that with this joint project, they had brought the Alternative Learning System closer to the homes of Palawan’s fishermen and community people who live in remote areas. This was a much-needed learning platform for them.
Teachers and members of the community who previously had to cross kilometres of land and sea to access the internet, join online classes, or submit reports may now do so within the community thanks to DICT’s Free WiFi For All programme.
The DICT MIMAROPA also collaborated with the Department of Education (DepED) and the local government of Balabac, Palawan to launch the Balsa Aralan Free Wi-Fi. The provision of free Internet connectivity aims to improve beneficiaries’ access to digital content and learning tools.
The DICT MIMAROPA also handed out the School-in-a-Bag, a portable digital classroom designed to help basic education in distant locations without electricity. The school-in-a-bag, with the help of commercial enterprises, uses mobile technology, an innovative 21st-century teaching style, and K+12 material to facilitate digital learning.
Balsa Aralan Tech4ED, Free Wi-Fi for All, and the School-in-a-Bag Project are ground-breaking programmes that aim to bring ICT services to even the most rural villages. The Department wants to bring inclusive community development to the countryside through these projects.
Meanwhile, the DICT CARAGA Regional Office’s Regional Government Emergency Telecommunications Team (RGETT) rehabilitated the high-frequency (HF) radio in the DICT Surigao del Norte Provincial Office as part of the Department’s initiative to strengthen ICT services in the countryside, particularly during natural disasters. The radio, which was destroyed by Typhoon Odette, was recently restored.
Typhoon Odette was no ordinary storm, according to Mario P. Cuado, Regional Director. It was a wake-up call not only for the Caraga Region but for the entire country. As a result, the said initiative was created to ensure that ICT equipment in DICT Provincial Offices is restored, recovered, and prepared for future disasters.
HF radio is advantageous for rural development because it does not require the core infrastructure employed by cellular technology, such as communication towers and internet technologies. Therefore, it is a suitable medium for emergency communications. HF radio is also utilised by the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) and the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC) in disaster preparedness simulation exercises.
ICT equipment is critical for emergency preparedness because it enables the public to fully support regional response capability, provide operational telecommunication services across the province, and help disseminate vital information required for disaster risk reduction.
The RGETT initiated the rehabilitation of the emergency communications equipment to ensure that personnel, processes, and technology solutions are ready for deployment and to provide communication services, as well as to support regional response capacities to provide coordination and operational telecommunication services in the province.
The RGETT will install HF radios at the provincial offices of DICT Surigao del Sur and the province of Dinagat Islands as part of the planned activities.
