Bridging digital divide in the far flung areas of Mindoro

On February 21, 2008 the Baco National High School Dulangan II Annex (BNHS), Oriental Mindoro, a school across the river, received 21 personal computers with open source applications, 1 year internet connection, wireless connection at the laboratory, wired connection at the library, faculty, principal’s offices (cost of wiring is counterpart funding from the school, multimedia projector, 3-in-1 printer, UPS, webcam (server only)‏ and 2 air conditioners — the second online connections on the island—from the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), implemented in collaboration with it’s partner state university, the Western Philippines University.

The Computer and Internet Literacy Course (CILC) at BNHS followed on March 3 to 7, 2008. The teachers were trained with the basic operation system using the Edubuntu, a free open office system.

Participating teachers were all eager to attend the training, in fact, the school Principal Elizabeth A. Maravilla even requested that she be allowed to sit and participate.

“Learning about the use of computers, will be of great help for us teachers, more so, if the teachers will be able to access teaching material from the internet.” Maravilla mentioned.

In both events, the delivery and the conduct of training, Occidental Mindoro experienced heavy rains and flooded rivers. Such weather condition only proved the commitment of Parent-Teacher-Community Associations (PTCA) who made an effort of constructing makeshift bridge just to make sure that activities will be in place.

They believe that after all, in a relatively short time, their investments will begin to pay dividends.