An innovative program to help address the burgeoning electronic waste problem launched by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Smart aims to equip Quezon City schools with digital tools.
On October 28, teachers and students from San Agustin Elementary School and Nova Homes Day Care Centers in Barangay San Agustin in Quezon City became the latest recipients of digital learning tools from PLDT and Smart as incentive for their community’s effective e-waste management efforts.
Two School-In-A-Bag (SIAB) packages and 50 LearnSmart Kits were turned over by the telecommunications companies in support of the “E-Waste to E-Learn” initiative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in cooperation with the Eco Waste Coalition and under the Global Environment Facility funded, “Safe PCB & Ewaste Management Project.”
Safe PCB and Ewaste Management Project aims to eliminate persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as Polychlorinated biphenyls and Polybromindated Diphenyl Ether, the latter mostly found in e-wastes.
Apart from this, the project aims to educate communities on safe management of these POPs.
All e-wastes surrendered by community members from July to September earned equivalent points. Cumulative scoring for the e-wastes collected in the barangay determined the incentives awarded to the beneficiary schools. Outstanding participants were then rewarded with SIABs and digital tools to help schools in their area address some of the challenges of distance learning during the pandemic lockdowns.
Each Smart School-in-a-Bag includes a water-resistant backpack that contains a laptop for the teacher, 10 tablets that allow students to access interactive applications even while offline.
The SIAB also includes a Smart LTE pocket WiFi kit which teachers can use to connect to the internet and download additional content. Educational content pre-installed in the donated devices includes Smart’s proprietary #LearnSmart Mother Tongue -Based Literacy Apps.
The GSM Association, the industry organization that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, cited these award-winning mobile applications which feature alphabet and number exercises, short stories, and games in native languages and dialects.
Complementing the SIAB is a LearnSmart Kit, an online learning companion packaged in a mini-pouch that carries a Smart LTE Pocket Wifi unit and a 32GB USB. The latter is pre-loaded with Smart’s learning content, such as Learning Activity Sheets of the Central Visayan Institute Foundation-Dynamic Learning Program (CVIF-DLP).
Supported by PLDT and Smart for over a decade, the innovative teaching methodology was one of only three supplemental learning resources endorsed by the Department of Education starting SY 2020-2021.