FOUR more Technology for Education, Employment, Entrepreneurial, and Economic Development (Tech4Ed) centers were established in three barangays and in the public library of San Carlos City.
The project is a joint-initiative of the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communication Technology Office (DOST-ICTO), San Carlos City Government, and the Department of Education (DepEd).
Romeo Tome, provincial team leader of DOST-ICTO in Negros Occidental, who attended the project launching in San Carlos City Thursday, said the Tech4Ed centers will benefit all sectors of the community in Barangays 1, Rizal, and Bulwangan, including students who will be catered by the city’s public library.
Officials who attended the event were led by Frederick Amores, director of DOST-ICTO Visayas Cluster, and San Carlos City Mayor Gerardo Valmayor.
Currently, San Carlos has already five Tech4Ed centers, including the one in Barangay Codcod, launched in December last year.
“These five Tech4Ed centers are just part of the 18 (identified) areas, mostly barangays, the DOST-ICTO intends to cover through an agreement with the local government,” Tome said, adding that the agency targets to establish another five centers in San Carlos this year.
These would surely benefit thousands of residents of the city, including the out-of-school youth and alternative learning system students, who will be linked by the DepEd in the center’s digitized program, he added.
Aside from San Carlos, the province already has three Tech4Ed centers in Himamaylan City, Cauayan town, and Bacolod City located at the Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center (NOLITC).
Tome said they are waiting for other local government units (LGUs) in the province to accept the proposal for the establishment of Tech4Ed centers in their respective localities.
Under the program, DOST-ICTO provides the platform and software, while the recipient-LGUs take charge of the building, equipment. and personnel as counterparts, he added.
Tech4Ed centers provide three main services such as eEduSkills, which focuses on educational and digital divide; eAssist for opportunity divide; and eGovServ devised for direct service to people.
The eEduSkills are digitized reviewers for Alternative Learning System, Learning English Language for Pinoys, online Technical Education and Skills Development Authority training courses, and value formation, including how to use the internet and cyber security.
The eAssist includes Microsoft digital literacy and career shifting module for teachers, while the eGovServ provides community the access to services of various government agencies like Social Security System, Pag-Ibig Fund, and National Bureau of Investigation.
“By bridging the gap between educational and digital divide, Tech4Ed project mainly aims to complement the government’s goal of achieving inclusive growth,” Tome said, adding that “inclusive growth can only be achieved if the whole sector especially women, youth, persons with disabilities as well as indigenous people are covered and part of the development.”