MANILA, Philippines?Twenty-four of the 49 public elementary schools in Ligao City, Albay, have received Text2Teach-enabled Nokia N86 8MP phones powered by the Globe mobile network.

Each phone has over 300 educational audio and video materials that run on an application called Nokia Education Delivery (NED), a prepaid Globe SIM card and a monthly load of P150 to support technical and help desk concerns of teachers.

Text2Teach is a public-private partnership among Globe Telecom, Nokia, Ayala Foundation and Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Center for Educational Innovation and Technology (Seameo-Innotech), with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the city government under Mayor Linda Gonzalez.

In a community launch held in the city gymnasium, Text2Teach packages were turned over to 24 schools: Amtic Elementary School, Barayong, Basag, Baligang, Herrera, Paulog, Abella, Francia, Maonon, Tupas, Oma-Oma, Bacong, Paulba, Cabarian, Tiongson, Busac, Tandarura, Tula-Tula (Grande), Tastas, Allang, Cavasi, Tula-Tula (Piqueña) and Culiat elementary schools, and Ligao East Central School.

Teacher?s manual

The Text2Teach package came with a teacher?s manual and teacher training conducted by Seameo-Innotech and participated in by about 120 school heads, officials and teachers to ensure that Text2Teach program standards are maintained.

?Text2Teach has benefited over 1,700 teachers and more than one million students since 2003. It has 379 educational video and audio files and 480 lesson guides downloadable through Globe. Its commitment to the Text2Teach program is long-term, as part of its mandate to be the leader in ICT education,? said Globe Telecom head for corporate communications Yoly Crisanto.

?We will no longer ban cell phones in classrooms because they will after all be useful when used by tech-savvy teachers,? joked Dr. Diosdado San Antonio, Director III in the Bureau of Secondary Education in the DepEd who delivered the keynote speech in behalf of Education Secretary Armin Luistro.

Gonzalez said she also wanted to do something about the dropout and out-of-school rates in the city.

The mean percentage score (MPS) in the National Achievement Test (NAT) of the 13 school divisions in the Bicol region has been below 50 percent the past several years.

The NAT passing MPS is 75 percent, which most of the other regions of the Philippines have also barely achieved. Ruby Kagaoan, contributor