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Tech-based Reading Programme in the Philippines

The U.S. has had a significant influence on the Philippine education system early on. It’s therefore very timely that once again, the Americans are contributing to the improving the education of the country’s young people again. Indeed, education is exactly one of the ways the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) can make possible its mandate of extending assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty and engaging in democratic reforms.

USAID Philippines Mission Director Ryan Washburn visited Negros Occidental, a province in Central Visayas, to do just that. The agency, through its flagship ABC+: Advancing Basic Education in the Philippines project launched the Beginning Reading Programme. Specifically, it’s a technology-based learning programme that uses low-cost electronic tablets called Learn Kernels to help children in Kindergarten to Grade 3 learn to read.

In partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and an American company, USAID turned over 300 Learn Kernels preloaded with USAID-developed early grade reading materials in various mother tongue languages.

What makes these electronic tablets so useful is they can be used remotely, even without the internet. It’s definitely a great leap forward. Doing so will help children access education, regardless of their location and connectivity.

It is universally accepted that reading is a fundamental tool for thinking and learning. It has an integrated and cumulative effect on comprehension in all subject areas. Washburn denoted that the goal of the programme is to ensure that no child is left behind in learning.

To drive his case, he also read a USAID-developed storybook to local children and handed over Hiligaynon and Sinugbuanong Binisaya language reading materials to Lacson and DepEd Region 6 Assistant Director Pedro Escobarte.

Indeed, USAID is doing its best to make education happen for young Filipino children. Since the pandemic began, it has provided nearly 1.5 million early grade reading materials in these mother tongue languages to students in Western Visayas.

Washburn launched the technology-based reading programme for early-grade learners as part of an event marking World Water Day. In celebration of World Water Day, Washburn joined National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary Roderick M. Planta and a host of personalities from both the private and public sector for a ceremonial tree planting. The event was to celebrate the first anniversary of the Partnership for Water and Economic Resilience (P4WatER).

P4WatER is a four-year watershed conservation project in partnership with the private sector and the Multisectoral Alliance for Development-Negros. Its goal is to rehabilitate watershed areas and provide sustainable livelihood to rice and sugar farmers.

Moreover, USAID has also supported the Negros Occidental provincial government in developing its first water security plan.

When we protect forests, watersheds, and water resources, we also protect communities from climate risks, and more importantly, we provide them with the means to recover and rebuild their lives from the negative impacts of climate change.

– Ryan Washburn, Mission Director, U.S. Agency for International Development

Increasingly, America is a major technology partner in the country’s bid for digital adoption. Recently, Philippine bankers learned cybersecurity best practices from American experts. Also, it has engaged some of the best-known companies in the American ICT industry to help in the upcoming national elections this May as reported on OpenGov Asia.

Digital technology is truly making progress happen in the Philippines. Knowing how essential connectivity is in the country’s bid to be part of Industry 4.0, Manila is involving one of the world’s leading space technology companies to spread the internet all over the country using satellites.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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