San Juan presents digital learning programs 

The San Juan City local government officially announced that it has already accomplished its promise of installing smart TVs and free fiber optic internet connection to its 13 public schools and pledged to improve its efforts in ensuring the quality of education of its youth, according to a report by Manila Bulletin.

On Tuesday, Dec. 13, San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora together with other local government officials and Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio visited the Pinaglabanan Elementary School as it presented to the vice president, who is also the Department of Education (DepEd) secretary, its digital teaching methods and equipment such as the smart TVs and fiber optic internet connection.

“Giving our students quality education is part of my ten-point agenda as mayor which is in line with our objective of being a smart city. We want to empower our public school students by providing them with facilities and equipment which are comparable or may even be better than what private schools have,” Zamora said.

The officials observed the testing of the internet connection and checked the possible applications that teachers can use with the smart TV such as teaching their lessons digitally thru their gadgets, doing away with cartolina, manila paper, and using the blackboard, and playing educational shows and related content for the students.

Students can use their tablets and laptops and free fiber optic internet connection to follow the lecture.

A short demonstration of multilingual instructional materials was also conducted in the classroom to further enhance the learning experience of the students. These are now being piloted in Pinaglabanan Elementary School and the use of these in San Juan City public schools will be implemented by next year.

Aside from these, all 12,500 San Juan City public school students were given free tablets in 2020 in partnership with the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), with Grades 3 to 6 students of Pinaglabanan Elementary School getting free laptops.

Around 7,000 public school student households in the city have also been installed with free fiber optic internet connection so they can still study at home and access a throve of additional information via the internet.

All public school teachers were also provided with laptops, WiFi connection, and seminars to aid them in teaching their students even in an online setting.

Zamora and Duterte distributed school uniforms and PE uniforms to all public school students of San Juan City after their inspection.

“Unang una po ang pagpapasalamat ko sa imbitasyon ng local government unit ng San Juan na makita ng first-hand at in-person ang prioridad ninyo sa inyong bayan: Ang edukasyon ng ating kabataan. Nahighlight po natin ngayong umaga ang pangarap natin para sa bawat kabataang learner na Pilipino (First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the local government unit of San Juan for inviting me to see first-hand and in-person their priority in their community: The education of its youth. We have highlighted this morning our dreams for our young Filipino learners),” Duterte said.

“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa ating local government unit for your unceasing commitment to provide better quality of education among the youth through initiatives that promote good quality of learning (I thank the local government unit for your unceasing commitment to provide better quality of education among the youth through initiatives that promote good quality of learning),” she added.

Duterte also cited San Juan for being recognized by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for being one of the child-friendly local government units in the country saying that the city “is indeed our reliable partner in ensuring a brighter future for our young Filipinos”.