Day 4 - the Philippines study visit

[Laurentiu Bunescu]

If during the third day we’ve traveled to the northern part of Manila, next day was planned for the southern area, specifically Bulacan area where we have visited an eSkwela center. We were accompanied there by the eSkwela program Director, Ms Maria Melizza D. Tan, who presented the mainframe and concept of eSkwela, which was created by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT).

The center is located within a market, very accessible for all. The heat from outside made me rush into the center, where I could enjoy the air-conditioned atmosphere. For me, it was very hard to just stay 5 minutes in the heat. Imagine how it is for at least 50 to 100 students sharing the same class room in a school without air-conditioned system, after traveling few km. This is a just a glimpse of the state educational context, in which the rate of school drop-out is incredible. E.g. in one school, from a total of 9000 students, 2500 dropped-out during one year. Alternatives for these students that have financial problems within their families were very limited.
This is how eSkwela was born, as a response to a huge need of education alternatives for youth and adults. The eSkwela program is an ICT-based Alternative Learning System for out-of-school youth and adults.

In Philippine, there are 9 eSkwela centers, where people are provided with free access to an e-learning platform. One could go through the necessary courses to be able to sustain a final exam that is granted with a baccalaureate equivalent diploma, recognized by the education system. Within six months, one could study and sustain the exam and get the diploma. In the first 4 pilot centres, a total of 563 learners were accessing the e-learning service, from which 356 have passed the Accreditation and Equivalency Exam. The average passing rate of 57,30% overcomes the national passing rate of 29%.

I was surrounded by about 20 learners in the centre, and the atmosphere was incredible, I could feel the huge impact of the centres in people’s life. Most of the learners, after passing the exam, are continuing their studies, and some of them take eTesda trainings, and get employed. For many people, this wouldn’t be possible without eSkwela’s existence. The eLearning curriculum focuses on the practical educational side and it’s user-friendly, very accessible and hosted by servers with open-source applications.

I can see now why the eSkwela project has been awarded by UNESCO with a Certificate of Commendation from the ICT in Education Innovation.

I’ve learned today about another model of innovative ICT use in services for communities.
PhilCecNet is very lucky to be able to work with these diverse initiatives, but it takes a great ability to put them together and form a strong network that responds to the needs of all.

eCentres in Philippine are going through staff-exchanges to learn about each other and to see how they can adapt and replicate services. This is how knowledge sharing builds partnerships and new opportunities for end-users.