Phl’s first Global Filipino School

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom showcased the country’s first Global Filipino School (GFS) to visiting members of GSM Association, an international organization of nearly 800 mobile operators and related companies worldwide which is promoting mobile-based education in the Philippines.

“We want to show GSMA that we can establish centers of expertise in ICT for education in the Philippine public school system to build a community of learners who can maximize technology to lead their respective communities,” said Fernando Esguerra, OIC for Globe corporate social responsibility.

As an ICT center of excellence, the 112-square-meter building located in Bilar National High School in Bohol is being used in the delivery of quality education to produce teachers and students who can contribute to the growth and competitiveness of their respective localities.  It uses the project-based learning (PBL) approach, which encourages student collaboration, multi-subject learning and research through the Internet, leading to a more profound understanding and better retention of the subject matter among the students. PBL is currently being implemented in 342 public high schools nationwide.

“The first Global Filipino School culminates our corporate social responsibility program in the field of ICT education. It gives opportunities to the students to aspire for higher achievement as well as provide chances to teachers and school heads to innovate new and engaging teaching techniques and curricula. GFS represents best practices in the public education sector in the country and that is what we want GSMA to see,” Esguerra added.

Bilar currently has 30 teachers and 750 students who directly benefit from the GFS. It is open to other students and teachers who are in need of ICT training. The school houses 24 desktop and 10 laptop computers with Internet connection and is divided into a training area and a free-learning corner.

Globe leads in GFS program management and resource mobilization. The Department of Education, through participating public high schools, serves as GFS co-convenor and helps craft the blueprint of the program for replication as well as monitors its implementation and results.

GFS is Globe Telecom’s response to the 2030 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report released by the United Nations, which ranked the Philippines together with African nations Zambia and Tanzania as under-performers in implementing reforms when it comes to universal access to primary education.