MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) has formally opened its Community Learning Hub, where students needing gadgets and devices may find a place to study, during a ceremony in Pasig City.
According to OVP, Vice President Leni Robredo and Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto visited the facility in Barangay Pinagbuhatan, Pasig during the simultaneous launch of Community Learning Hubs nationwide.
The project, an initiative of the OVP and its private sector partners JCI Manila, Ligaya ng Panginoon-Youth, and PLDT Enterprise, also has other facilities set up in Caloocan City; Taytay, Rizal; Himamaylan, Negros Occidental; Lucena City; and Tabaco City, Albay.
Meanwhile, future hubs will be created for learners in Balete, Aklan and San Jose, Camarines Sur.
This program is aimed at allowing students who lack the gadgets or the internet connections find a place for distance and blended learning — modes of education pursued by the government to avoid COVID-19 transmissions — to be able to continue studying and complying with requirements.
“Community Learning Hubs are learning facilities, set up by OVP and its partners, to support learners in their studies, through free access to computers, gadgets, equipment, and the internet, as well as tutors,” OVP said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This is part of BAYANIHAN e-SKWELA, the initiative that VP Leni and her office launched to extend different kinds of support for students, parents, and teachers amid the shift to distance/blended learning,” it added.
This is one of the several programs created by Robredo and OVP during the pandemic, aside from free shuttles and dormitories for frontliners, and donation drives to buy personal protective equipment and coronavirus testing kits.