Vivian Panes is an elementary teacher from the barrio. Like many teachers in the area, she rides a motorbike to the school located in the outskirts of Midsayap, North Cotabato. But unlike other women in the area, she chooses to drive her own motorbike.

Her daring and dexterity in taking control of the bike and maneuvering through the challenging dirt road that leads to the NES Elementary School make it no surprise that she has also taken well to using the computer, still a novelty in her school. And she clearly sees the advantages of both machines.

“With my bike, I can be very mobile and can reach the school anytime I want. With the computer, I can do some of my teaching responsibilities in a breeze,” explains Panes.

Panes attributes her computer skills to her innate interest in technology, and her desire to do things swiftly but effectively. She also gives credit to her school administrator for sending her to an information and communications technology (ICT) training conducted in the town center last summer.

Panes is among the 102 teachers from Midsayap who were trained by Microsoft Philippines and the U.S. Agency for International Development, under its Education Quality and Access for Learning
and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS2) project, on basic computer competency. Both Microsoft and EQuALLS2 came together in a partnership to train teachers in ICT so they can use these different tools to prepare lesson plans, develop instructional materials, calculate grades, and locate reference materials.

Implemented in support of the ICT for Education thrust of the Philippine Department of Education, the training is meant to strengthen classroom instruction and management skills of elementary school teachers and administrators from conflict-affected areas in Mindanao. The initiative is also designed to increase the computer proficiency of elementary teachers and will bring ICT hubs and computers in key areas throughout Mindanao.

“After the training, I learned valuable skills and techniques on how to maximize the use of computers, which made my life as a teacher a lot easier. For example, I know use the computer to compute the grades of my students with the use of Excel, and prepare my daily lesson plans with the use of Word,” says Panes.

Panes, who had bought a personal computer prior to the training, is now more interested in ICT and feels more comfortable and familiar with using her own equipment and its functions for various
purposes.

“Because of the five-day training, I became more interested in tinkering with my computer and in trying the exercises I learned during the activity. To my surprise, I realized that the capabilities of the computer seem boundless,” she exclaims.

TEACHER GOES HI-TECH!

Panes shares this amazement with Ester Maturan, Grade Three teacher from Midsayap Pilot Central Elementary School, also a participant in the EQuALLS2-Microsoft ICT training last April.

Maturan, who barely knew how to maneuver the mouse prior to her ICT training, now uses the computer to produce visual aids and several other teaching materials like “Word of the Day” flash cards and stories that she reads with her students.

“With the help of my computer, I encoded some children’s stories in MS Word and reproduced them so that my students can read along with me,” she says.

Unlike Panes who invested her own money to acquire a computer, Maturan utilizes the computers that were provided to teachers by USAID’s EQuALLS2 project through its ICT Hubs initiative.

In June this year, USAID, through the EQuALLS2 Project, turned over 32 computers and peripherals to four public elementary school districts in Midsayap. The ICT hubs are maintained and supported
by the respective DepED district offices and the local government unit. Midsayap was the first of 10 municipalities in Mindanao to receive computers for teachers and administrators.

To date, USAID’s EQuALLS2 Project has distributed 80 computers and peripherals to four municipalities in Mindanao and will distribute an additional 150 computers to key municipalities therein.

Part of the ICT initiative is the Mentorship Program, in which teachers who underwent training from USAID’s EQuALLS2 Project and Microsoft will provide tutorials to fellow teachers at the hub.

Quarterly support meetings for participating teachers are now being facilitated to provide a venue for ongoing sharing, planning, and continuing evaluation of the ICT initiative.

USAID’s EQuALLS2 Project aims to improve education in Mindanao by increasing learning opportunities for children and youth through cultivation of community support for education, strengthening of teaching capacity in English, science, and math at the elementary level, and extension of alternative learning and earning opportunities to out-of-school children and youth. The project is being implemented in partnership with the national DepED and with DepED in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.