Tagbilaran City DepEd division receive laptops for ALS from USAID

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

TAGBILARAN CITY— Tagbilaran City DepEd Division received nine brand-new laptop computers for its eight Alternative Learning System (ALS) mobile teachers and the city Division’s ALS focal person in a partnership project called USAID Opportunity 2.0 between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of Education (DepED) in a turnover ceremony on March 12 at the City Hall Atrium.

According to USAID representative Lucille Alcala-Dabhi that these laptops are in support to build the capacities of the ALS implementers in Tagbilaran City while mainstream educators struggle to adapt and find new modalities in blended learning/teaching to offsite ALS students.

Dabhi said that ALS students must improvise especially when some of the students are also engaged in informal work/jobs.  The laptops are expected to aid the ALS to meet the widening needs of the out-of-school (OSY) population and those who are enrolled at the ALS.

Tagbilaran City mayor John Geesnell Yap said that the City Government is grateful for this project as it complements the LGU’s efforts to improve the offsite education. 

“Our teachers are also adapting and learning new modalities to deliver the instructions in these COVID times and with this program, it will support the students’ dreams to be productive or at least contribute to their success, Yap added.

City Division Curriculum Implementation Chief Dr.  John Ariel Lagura bared that the program in partnership with TESDA also hopes to augment the relevant educational training and enhance the employability skills and work chances of the OSYs in the 12 cities across the country where Project Opportunity 2.0 is rolled out.

According to Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Casiana Caberte that while it is noteworthy that Tagbilaran has been selected among the cities in the country to have the project, she also bared that the city is the first to get the laptop computers.

USAID Opportunity 2.0 is a five-year USAID funded project worth P1.9 billion ($37.5 million) that builds and advances the on-going programs and existing education systems of DepEd-Philippines and the the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). 

The turnover ceremony was attended by the USAID representative Lucille Alcala Dabhi, City Mayor John Geesnell Yap II, DepED Bohol Assistant Division Superintendent Dr. Casiana Caberte, City Division Curriculum Implementation chief John Ariel Lagura, ALS Divison Focal person Elizabeth Rosil Escolano, City DepED School Governance and Operation chief Beatriz Luga, City Sangguniang Kabataan Federation President Raul Aparicio, and ALS mobile teachers/recipients of the laptops. (Photos: PIA/Google files)