La Trinidad, Benguet – Department of Science and Technology – Cordillera Administrative Region (DOST-CAR) today launched its very first “Dad-at di DOST Scholar (A Scholar’s Story)”, a virtual story-telling initiative that aims to promote the impact of the DOST’s scholarship program. The program also seeks to increase public awareness of the scholarship program through social media and highlight how graduate-scholars were able to cope with challenges during their scholarship years. Through the new platform, the DOST-CAR hopes to encourage scholars, aspiring scholars and all learners in overcoming their own academic challenges.
“Dad-at”, which is a Kankana-ey term for “a story”, is a type of an Indigenous Knowledge System and Practice (IKSP) wherein stories are chanted by one person who knows the Dad-at, to either entertain or inform.
This activity marks a milestone for DOST-CAR as it is a complement to existing science education promotion strategies and will hopefully contribute towards improving the science culture in CAR. In 2015, our country had 270 R&D personnel per million population compared to UNESCO’s standard of 380 R&D per million. Through the DOST scholarship programs, it is hoped that the pool of scientists and engineers in the country shall increase.
DOST-CAR has been advocating scholarship programs through the years down to the grassroots by conducting scholarship caravans to different schools in the region aside from promoting these through radio, print and social media. Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, physical gathering has been a challenge such that the use of virtual platforms has been maximized.
In the official launch, Dr. Nancy A. Bantog, DOST-CAR Regional Director, encouraged scholar-graduates to continue the advocacy on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) for the country’s socio-economic progress.
“We want to boost the self-esteem of students, encourage and inspire our scholars towards winning the battle against college life challenges,” added Dr. Bantog.
First off in the online series, Janisse Gas-ib, a former DOST scholar who graduated as Cum Laude, BSE in Mathematics at Saint Louis University, Baguio City, detailed DOST’s support in her journey as a scholar and in her subsequent career. She is also currently taking up a doctorate through the DOST’s Capacity Building Program for Math and Science Education scholarship.
“We should not stop learning, we must keep going,” Ms. Gas-ib told participants during the live virtual session, when asked what advice she had for the youth especially during the pandemic. By Christian Robert M. Sandoval
