Text2Teach program invests P20.8 M for 172 additional Visayan schools

SILAY CITY, Philippines—Ayala Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala led the signing of memorandum of agreement and turnover ceremony of P20.8 million worth of educational materials for Text2Teach program of Ayala Foundation to 13 local governments in the Visayas at rites in Silay City, Negros Occidental on Aug. 27.

Benefiting from the program are 172 public elementary schools in these 13 LGUs. Text2Teach is a comprehensive mobile learning package for Grades 5 and 6 pupils, that aims to enhance teaching and learning in Math, Science, English, and Values Education through the use of educational video materials.

 The 13 LGUs include the cities of Bacolod, Silay, Talisay, La Carlota and Bago in Negros Occidental; cities of Bayawan, Guihulngan and Bais in Negros Oriental; Laua-an town in Antique; Malay town in Aklan; cities of Naga and Talisay in Cebu; and Siquijor province.

Text2Teach Alliance, implementor of the program, is composed of Ayala Foundation Inc., Nokia, Globe Telecom, Department of Education, and Pearson Foundation, with Toshiba Corp. as its project partner. 

Signing the MOA were the mayors of each LGU or their representatives, and officials of partner-alliance led by Ayala Corp. chairman and chief executive officer Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Foundation president Ma. Lourdes Heras-de Leon, Fumio Otani of Toshiba Corp., Nokia Sustainability manager Mei Ling Tan and Department of Education Bureau of Elementary Education chief Thea Manalo, held at the Dr. Jose C. Locsin Cultural and Civic Center in Silay City.

 It was witnessed by Bong Esguerra, manager of Globe Telecom’s Corporate Social Responsibility division, and Arnold Sienna of the DepEd-Western Visayas regional office.

 â€œWe at Ayala look forward to working with you and the rest of our partners in implementing Text2Teach. We are excited to take further steps with all of you in mainstreaming Text2Teach and offering innovative learning opportunities to every Filipino student,” Zobel said, in addressing their partners and stakeholders.

 The P20.8 million represents the total counterpart fund provided respectively by the 13 LGUs, Ayala Foundation, and Text2Teach Alliance, including Toshiba Corp., which turned over 300 units of 32-inch LED television sets to the alliance during the signing rites. For the program’s fourth phase, Toshiba is providing 850 32-inch TV sets.

 The MOA signed Tuesday effectively added 172 more public elementary schools to the existing 128 connected schools in the Visayas, bringing to 300 the total number of Text2Teach Visayas schools.

To date, Text2Teach has reached 736 schools across the country, Zobel said.

Zobel said that with yesterday’s turnover rites, the cities of Silay and La Carlota became the second and third LGUs around the country to have all its public elementary schools fully connected to the Text2Teach program.

Silay Mayor Jose Montelibano said Text2Teach program is now available in their 32 public elementary schools all over the city, including 12 from upland barangays.

La Carlota Mayor Juliet Ferrer said all the 24 public elementary schools in her city are connected to the program.

Heras-de Leon said 11 countries are implementing a Text2Teach program under a mother program called BridgeIT.

“The Philippines is considered a model country by UNESCO for having best practices for the use of mobile technology in education. So if we can mainstream this and make it happen to all of our public elementary schools that would be a dream come true,” she added.

Text2Teach uses a full cellular platform using a 3G-enabled Nokia mobile phone equipped with the Nokia Education Delivery application that allows teachers to download and choose educational videos on Math, Science, English and Values Education.

The videos produced for the program’s phase 4 from 2011-2014 was funded by the Pearson Foundation.

Zobel said the Text2Teach program will celebrate its 10th year. “Our goal is to mainstream the program and eventually provide access to Teach2Text to all our public elementary schools,” he said.

Zobel said the secret of the success of mainstreaming Text2Teach lies in their partnerships with the LGUs, and the schools and teachers.

“As the local government continues to support the call of our Department of Education in supporting education programs like Text2Teach, we are definitely on our way in providing the necessary support to our teachers and students,” Zobel added.