DAVAO CITY—Four rural schools in Davao Oriental have been selected for the special upliftment of its learning environment using a digital-based program to bring science and technology learnings both to the schools and the communities around it.
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said it was joining the Department of Education (DepEd) in pursuing its program to schools that need assistance under the DepEd’s Project Elimination of Academic Gaps of Learners in the Elementary (Eagle).
The DOST identified the schools as Old Macopa Elementary School in the town of Manay, Lambajon Central Elementary School in Baganga, Sigaboy Central Elementary School in Governor Generoso and Francisco Hinayon Elementary School in Mati City.
It said the four schools bring to 11 the total number of schools under Project Eagle and which the DOST has applied its own Starbooks program, or the Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly-Operated Kiosk System.
It said the both the Starbooks program of the DOST and the Project Eagle of the DepEd were launched in 2017 “to increase learning outcomes of the students on all learning areas.”
It said Project Eagle “aims to strengthen the bond between the students, parents and teachers and the teaching methods of the teachers involved in the looping.” A “looping” is a practice where the teachers stay in one class for more than one year.
“Project Eagle’s objectives coincide with Starbooks’s campaign to provide relevant and timely S&T educational resources accessible and available to anyone, anywhere in the country; enhancing the educational competence of students and the community.”
The Davao regional office of the DepEd has identified 22 schools under its Project Eagle to benefit the Starbooks program.
The DOST described Starbooks as “the first Philippine S&T digital library, a stand-alone information source designed to bring S&T information to the grassroots.”
“It is a library in a box; the information is in digitized form and they are in software and can be installed in a computer,” it said in its many reports from across the regions posted since last year. “Starbooks contains thousands of local and foreign S&T resources in various formats such as books, journals, scientific research papers covering topics on different branches of science.”
“It also features DOSTkarte livelihood videos, interactive science and math courseware, disaster mitigation, DOST technologies and educational videos,” it added.
The DOST said the program wanted to provide science and technology–based educational and learning resources in various formats, specifically to geographically isolated schools and local government units where there is no Internet connection.
In areas with no electricity and Internet connections, the DOST would provide solar-powered computers.
It said the Starbooks would be also open not only to schools but to interested local government units and non-government organizations.