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| (Image Source: ABS-CBN Corporation) |
Teachers, students and parents are experiencing a surge of challenges brought about by the continuing threat of the global COVID-19 pandemic in the country. This is why Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc., ABS-CBN, Globe Telecom and Mary Joy Foundation have partnered for the Big Blue Hearts campaign which aims to provide teaching and learning tool such as internet modems and prepaid load. With these tools, students can access the video lessons from Knowledge Channel's Wikaharian series which teaches children to read in Filipino. Introduced in 2019 to Grade One students in 18 public schools in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna through KCFI's Basa Bilang project, Wikaharian was able to improve the performance of the said students in tests.
According to KCFI president and executive director Rina Lopez Bautista, the performance of Filipino students in successive international examinations has been low in recent years but it has been aggravated by the pandemic. "Parents, students and teachers now experience difficulty in adjusting to online or distance learning. Not all parents have the capacity to become teachers to their children. They also need load, gadgets and a stable internet connection," Bautista said. Meanwhile, Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Manuela Tolentino of DepEd - Division of Sta. Rosa City said that students will definitely benefit from the donations of modems with loads because their hardship lies in the economic situation of their families. She shared, "They cannot buy these loads for their children having online classes, especially families of three to five children who are studying and need many internet sources."
Big Blue Hearts is the latest addition to a sleuth of public service initiatives by the premiere media and entertainment company in the Philippines and the country's first educational television channel that help provide education to students in need. Aside from Big Blue Hearts, among these initiatives are Sagip Kapamilya's "Gusto Kong Mag-Aral" which has initially provided copiers and other materials in schools across the Visayas region and is set to reach Mindanao; Bayan Mo I-Patrol Mo's "Papel Mo Sa Kinabukasan Ko" where several of DepEd's "last mile schools" in Rizal, Catanduanes and Isabela received bond paper which is used for modular learning; and "Tulong-Tulong Sa Pag-Ahon Para Sa Edukasyon" in which a total of 2,000 learner kits comprising of backpacks with school supplies, including books from Bato Balani Foundation, were given in areas hit by Typhoon Ulysses last year.
