Text2Teach to boost quality of education in Patikul, Sulu.

Classes have started for most schools in the Philippines, and beginning this school year, the Text2Teach program will be implemented in Patikul, Sulu. A third class municipality, Patikul is also one of the most remote island groups in the Philippines where student dropout rate has reached alarming proportions. This concern is one of the many that the Text2Teach program aims to address.

A collaboration between the private and public sectors composed of Globe Telecom, Ayala Foundation, Nokia, Pearson Foundation, Toshiba, the Department of Education, and the local government unit, the Text2Teach program is set to boost the quality of education in 15 elementary schools in Patikul, Sulu. The program also aims to boost teacher morale and enhance the learning environment in the classroom, with the end-goal of significantly lowering the drop-out rate and significantly increase the learning gains.

Text2Teach launching in Sulu.

Through Text2Teach, the alliance aims to address the lack of appeal of education by providing an abundant supply of teaching resources such as 360 educational video materials on English, Math, Science and Values Education downloaded via Nokia Education Delivery.

The videos which can be played in a 32" LCD TV donated by Toshiba provide a highly-effective visual aid for teachers and create an interactive, student-focused learning environment in the classroom which makes the students eager to attend school. It comes with lesson plans that are fully integrated into the basic education curriculum and created to meet local education guidelines and standards.

Photo credit: Text2Teach.

Meanwhile, Globe also provides pre-paid SIM cards, free P150 monthly load allowance for one year to each beneficiary-school to be used for helpdesk concerns, and an additional P1,000 load if there are new or updated materials to be downloaded using its network.

There are now about 1,054 Text2Teach schools nationwide with the alliance looking to increase count to 1407 schools by the end of the year.