Bringing ICT to the hinterlands of Ilocos Sur

Gregorio Del Pilar, Ilocos Sur nestled on the slopes of the Cordillera mountains, is a historic town. This is where Tirad Pass is located, the place where a young general gave up his life in the defense of his country. And in honor of this general, the town got its name.

The people of Del Pilar are sturdy, simple, nature loving folks, hardened by the struggles of living on the Cordilleras. The people thrive mainly on farming the scenic terraced slopes. Water is abundant year round and the people can have 3 cropping seasons. Rice and tobacco are their main crops. The people of Del Pilar have simple aspirations in life brought about by their isolation from mainstream society

There are two routes leading to Del Pilar, Ilocos Sur. One is on land, a treacherous mountain trail passing the towns of Banayoyo and San Emilio, where only off-road 4-wheel drive vehicles could safely traverse and still with much difficulty. The mountain trail is usually close during the rainy season due to landslides along the route. The other route is both on land and water where only vehicles with a high wheel clearance (and much higher air intake) could safely traverse (amphibious vehicles will thrive here). This route passes through the towns of Galimuyod and Salcedo and traverses a river, crisscrossing it at least 9 times (without any bridge, that is) before reaching the town. This is the preferred route for the handful of passenger jeepneys that ply the Candon-DelPilar route because it is the shorter route. The nearest urban city is Candon (about 15 km via the river route) where the people of Del Pilar go to trade their produce and buy their daily needs.

iSchools 2009 recipients prepare sustainability plan

Stakeholders - consisting of the school Principal, a representative of the Local School Board, and a representative of the Parents-Teachers Association - from the 48 public high schools (PHS) from northern Luzon (cluster 2) which are recipients of the iSchools 2009F project attended the Sustainability Planning Workshop (SPW) held at Heritage Resort, Caoayan, Ilocos Sur on November 22-25, 2010. The SPW aimed to familiarize the iSchools recipients on the principles and concepts of sustainability and how these may be applied to their schools and assist the participants in drafting their school Sustainability Plan. Through a series of workshops, the participants analyzed their respective school and community environments, identified the most appropriate sustainability model and crafted their respective school’s sustainability plan. The drafted sustainability model was then presented in a plenary session for critiquing and improvement.

ISPSC completes CILC in 6 PHS

Four public high schools in Ilocos Sur and 2 in Ilocos Norte are added to the list of schools that are ready to integrate ICT in their curriculum. Teachers and selected students of Solsona National High School – Bagbag Campus (Solsona, Ilocos Norte), Nueva Era National High School (Ilocos Norte), Puro National High School (Magsingal, Ilocos Sur), Pantay-Tamurong National High School (Caoayan, Ilocos Sur), San Juan National High School (San Juan, Ilocos Sur), and Gregorio Del Pilar National High School (Del Pilar, Ilocos Sur)  completed successfully the Computer and Internet Literacy Course conducted by ISPSC iSchools project staff with the help of resource person from Benguet State University.

The participants of the CILC training learned to use Ubuntu Linux and Open Source office applications Writer, Calc, Impress and Firefox which are installed in the computers delivered to the iSchools recipient schools. They learned how to apply these applications in facilitating learning such as the use of multimedia presentations as well as in support activities such as lesson preparation, student evaluation, and correspondence. A workshop followed each module in order to apply the operations and skills demonstrated by the resource person. The participants were required to complete their outputs which include a communication letter, test paper, sample lesson plan, class record, grading sheet and multimedia presentation of a lesson. As a final output, the participants also presented their multimedia presentation and familiarized themselves in using the multimedia projector. They also learned to scan photos and book pages using the flatbed scanner. During the module on Internet, they created their respective email accounts and learned to search information and become critical with the information they get from the Net.

Dr. Rafael Querubin, ISPSC President, attended the closing program at Nueva Era National High School and exhorted the participants to use the computers and integrate ICT in their curriculum.

The CILC trainings were conducted by the following ICDL-certified trainers: Mr. Eduardson Tacuban (ISPSC), Mr. Charlie Dasalla (ISPSC), Mr. Jonathan Pagatpatan (ISPSC ), Ms. Frevy Teofilo (BSU), Ms. Jag Fernando (BSU), and Ms. Rachel Joy Sison (BASC). The trainers were assisted by the following qualified laboratory assistants from ISPSC: Mr. VJ Barayuga, Mr. Gerald Directo, Mr. Melvin Dato, Mr. Jonjon Ancheta, Mr. Eduardo Foronda, Ms. Felicidad Menor, Ms. Gina Mae Villanueva, Ms. Juvy Deocales, Ms. Ma. Cecilia Lazarte, and Ms. Julia Josephine Dasalla. The trainings were facilitated by Ms. Gemma B. Somera and Mr. Fernando Calacal.