THE Provincial Government of Negros Occidental has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with STI-West Negros University in Bacolod City for scholarship grants to deserving Negrense students who are about to complete their information and communications technology (ICT) courses in the said school.
It was signed by Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and STI-West Negros University Executive Vice President Ryan Mark Molina last week.
The MOU stated that the program dubbed "Employing ICT to Spur Economic Recovery" is aimed at giving scholarships to the poor but deserving third year and fourth year students taking ICT courses to help them finish their college education.
The program is also seen to encourage more students to take ICT and harness their skills in developing software applications and establishing information structure to address the current shortage of highly skilled programmers, system analysts and software developers in the face of the digital revolution.
This is a new scholarship category, which is a pioneering program of the province, to provide access to educational opportunities to poor but deserving students and spur economic recovery, it added.
For his part, Lacson said the "new normal" will bring about substantial changes in the present way of life and the role of ICT will be more strategic than ever.
Lacson said the present administration will do its best to make sure that the scholarship programs will be responsive to the needs of the youth and the present time.
"With physical distancing as one of the more prominent aspects of the new normal, ICT will lay the foundations for people to meet, connect, communicate and manage business and government transactions," he added.
Meanwhile, the MOU signing was witnessed by Fifth District Board Member Agustin Ernesto Bascon, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Education, Scholarship Program Head Karen Dinsay, STI-West Negros University scholarship coordinator Melissa Ferrer, faculty and staff, scholars and their parents. (PR)