PHINMA Education, a fast-growing network of schools in Southeast Asia, has partnered with PLDT to provide mobile data and access to learning platforms to students in five schools and universities across the Philippines.
“We are pleased to secure this partnership with PLDT Enterprise to help our students navigate education in the new normal,” says Phinma Education chief operations officer (COO) Dr. Raymundo P. Reyes. “Technology that facilitates flexible learning is one of our strategies to continue delivering quality education, in spite of limitations in conducting face-to-face classes.”
PLDT Enterprise will be providing mobile data and access to learning platforms to students of the Phinma University of Pangasinan in Dagupan City, Phinma UPang College in Urdaneta City, Phinma University of Iloilo, Phinma St. Jude College in the City of Manila, Phinma Republican College in Quezon City and Southwestern University Phinma in Cebu City.
“PLDT Enterprise’s Smart Giga Study data plans are really geared toward providing support for students and teachers. This is a challenging time for the education sector. That is why supporting various learning modalities like e-Learning has become one of our most urgent priorities at PLDT Enterprise,” says Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT president chief executive officer (CEO) and senior vice president (SVP) and head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups.
With the Smart Giga Study data plans, students and teachers are given access to the basic programs they need for collaborative learning and individual research, such as Microsoft 365 and G Suite by Google. “These programs will help everyone accomplish their work easily and also be able to communicate and collaborate in real time,” added Hernandez.
Phinma Education is also receiving a value-added service from PLDT Enterprise including a free SMS Messaging Suite for every campus per month. In addition, free Smart WiFi access points are being deployed for Phinma Education students.
"Ensuring that students can learn anytime, anywhere is part of a big ecosystem which requires the educational institutions to work with both the private and public sectors," said Alfredo S. Panlilio, PLDT chief revenue officer and Smart president and chief executive officer.
"This is the ecosystem we have to build and we at PLDT-Smart are forging this partnership with Phinma Education and are continuously engaging with other schools across the country to help the education sector address the challenges of flexible learning," Panlilo added.
The partnership between Phinma Education and PLDT Enterprise was fortified through a virtual contract signing held on July 17, 2020. Present during the event were Phinma Education executives Dr. Chito B. Salazar, president and CEO; Dr. Raymundo P. Reyes, COO; and Christopher A. Tan, assistant COO.
They were joined by Alfredo S. Panlilio, chief revenue officer of PLDT and president and CEO of Smart; Jovy Hernandez, ePLDT president and CEO and SVP and head for PLDT and Smart Enterprise Business Groups; Mitch Locsin, first vice president of PLDT Enterprise; and Jay Lagdameo, vice president and corporate relationship management head of PLDT Enterprise.
PHINMA Education Holdings Inc. (Pehi) is the education services subsidiary of Phinma Corp., a Filipino-owned conglomerate with investments in education, property development, hospitality and construction materials. Pehi owns and operates seven schools across the Philippines and manages one in Karawang, West Java, Indonesia.