MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-four public school teachers in select public schools in northern Luzon have been given free information communications technology (ICT) teaching skills training under a program designed by telecoms giant Globe in partnership with the Coalition for Better Education (CBE).
Through the “Global Filipino Teachers” (GFT) program, Globe and CBE had conducted a six-day live-in training workshop for 24 select teachers from 24 public schools in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan.
GFT, a Globe initiative under its corporate social responsibility program called Globe Bridging Communities (Globe BridgeCom), intends to improve teaching efficiency of teachers and re-engineer their role in schools.
It was proven that by using ICT, there is increased teacher motivation and improved student memory retention and comprehension of various subjects. In essence, GFT has transformed computers and the internet from just being desktop sources of information into instruments of interactive teaching and online collaboration.
“The program involves giving ICT training to teachers from schools which are beneficiaries of the Globe Internet in Schools (ISP) program. Through ISP, Globe is able to help prepare young Filipinos to be globally competitive by introducing them to internet literacy skills and opening doors to a wide range of information available on the internet,” Yoly Crisanto, Globe head for corporate communications, said.
“In our conversations with ISP schools, we realized that connectivity is never enough since a lot of teachers are not adept in utilizing computers and the internet. The teachers need to develop their ICT skills beyond the usual Word, Excel, and Powerpoint training. It is important to increase their “innovation” competencies by making them create their own classroom strategies with ICT already integrated. Thus, born the Global Filipino Teachers program,” Crisanto said.
For North Luzon, Globe has chosen 24 schools, namely: Inerangan NHS, Bacarra NHS, Catagtaguen NHS, Nagrebcan NHS, Alipang NHS, Don Eufemio F. Eriguel Memorial NHS, Pres. E. Quirino NHS, Rosario Integrated School, Bued NHS, Pangasinan NHS, Pangasinan NHS, Capulaan NHS, Carusucan Sur NHS, David NHS, Macayo Integrated School, Robert B. Estrella Memorial NHS, Unzad NHS, Cobol NHS, Mabalbalino NHS, Pangalangan NHS, Speaker Eugenio Perez National Agricultural School, Tamayo NHS, Cabaruan NHS, Catablan National High School, Palina West NHS.
The teachers who completed the GFT training automatically earns three units in a Masters program should they decide to pursue higher education. – Rainier Allan Ronda, Rica Roberto