FOR THE LEARNERS From left: City of San Jose del Monte Schools Division Superintendent Leonardo Canlas, Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) assistant vice president and Inquirer Foundation executive director Connie Kalagayan, City Mayor Arthur Robes, and PDI national sales manager Roy Raul Mendiola sign the memorandum of agreement for an INQskwela partnership on July 22. The partnership will cover all 59 public elementary and high schools in the city. —Carmela Reyes-Estrope
CITY OF SAN JOSE DEL MONTE, BULACAN, Philippines — Public elementary students in this city may soon expand their learning experience after the local government enrolled them in INQskwela, a program that provides daily access to the digital issues of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI).
It is hoped that through the program, the supplemental classroom material would enhance their knowledge or proficiency in several subjects like social studies and reading comprehension.
San Jose del Monte (SJDM) Mayor Arthur Robes and City Schools Division Superintendent Leonardo Canlas of the Department of Education signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on July 22 with officials of PDI and the Inquirer Foundation.
READ: INQskwela goes to Malolos, its 8th LGU partner
The INQskwela project aims to contribute to the improvement of basic education in the country by giving students a regular exposure to current events as a way to develop their language skills, critical thinking and media literacy.
Through the Inquirer InqPlus digital edition, faculty members will have access to Inquirer news, features and commentary which they may use for social studies, English and other subjects.
SJDM is the ninth local government unit (LGU) to sign up for INQskwela. Earlier partners include Valenzuela in Metro Manila, Victorias City in Negros Occidental, Baguio City, the City of Manila, San Manuel in Tarlac, Calumpit and Malolos in Bulacan, and Eastern Samar province.
Progress reports
In SJDM, the initiative is expected to cover 122,053 elementary pupils as well as 8,756 junior and senior high school students in a total of 59 public primary and secondary schools.
The city is composed of 62 barangays, including three that were created only last year in Muzon following a plebiscite.
Under the newly signed partnership, 20 heads of the 59 schools will receive daily access to InqPlus. They will be providing the link to the teachers, who will then share with students any material they deemed useful in class through their social media groups.
Schools are required to submit pre and postproject reports on the progress of the students and teachers as part of an evaluation system drawn up for INQskwela.
Away from distractions
At the MOA signing, PDI was represented by Connie Kalagayan, assistant vice president and Inquirer Foundation Corp. executive director; and Roy Raul Mendiola, PDI national sales manager.
According to Kalagayan, SJDM is the biggest INQskwela partner to date in terms of the number of participating schools.
Robes said INQskwela would help in the city government’s efforts to instill in the youth a deeper awareness or sense of involvement in the issues affecting the country, a challenge increasingly made difficult by distractions from social media.
“They will have [a glimpse of what’s happening] globally and nationwide, and know what the government is doing and what they can do on their part,” he said.
The mayor added: “Because the Inquirer is one of the best and leading newspapers in the Philippines, this is also one of the best reading materials where they can get information on what is happening in our country. We know that this will be of great help to our youth and to our people as a whole.”
Canlas hoped that the partnership would help the city schools division achieve its target of having “zero nonreaders” among SJDM students.
Also in the pipeline is the holding of a quiz bee among SJDM schools, to be facilitated by PDI and the Inquirer Foundation.