Graduates of the PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program Batch of 2008 proudly flaunt their Certificates of Completion. At the center is PLDT Public Affairs Office Head Ramon R. Isberto

With the rapid change of global lifestyle in terms of developmental and technological aspects, the Filipino shall remain at par with the rest of the world.  This will be so, if the vision of PLDT’s Community Relations (ComRel) Division courses through with swift realization.  However, it did not start off as easy as it may have seem.

When PLDT’s ComRel Division first implemented the Adopt-a-Barangay program in 2003 among rural beneficiaries, with the objective of equipping barangays with computer units for their daily endeavors, they were quite staggered upon the realization that their program might need a major overhaul; this, considering that there are more computer keys on the keyboard than the number of beneficiaries who could use them.

So the PLDT ComRel went back to the drawing board and came up with Teknolohiya Tulong Sa Iyo Program, at Barangay Malamig in Mandaluyong as pilot barangay in March 2003.  Seeing it more fit and apt to raise computer literacy at the wellspring of knowledge itself and carrying out the consequent modifications, the program eventually turned into the PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program.

“The use of internet technology is fast becoming the principal tool in communications, research and a gamut of developmental facets all over the world,” thus said PLDT ComRel head Evelyn Mamauag - del Rosario. “We were quite taken aback by how far we, as a country, still needs to mainstream our computer capabilities,” she added.

That is why the PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program, a free 24 hour basic computer training course, was designed to appreciate the level of computer know-how of secondary students and teachers on a nationwide scale. Most rural teachers, as discovered by ComRel volunteers, are still quite clueless even with the basis of computer know-how.  This may be attributed to their deprivation of internet access due to the remoteness of the area, and aggravated by the lack of internet cafes providing for access.

With the PLDT Infoteach Outreach objective to educate students and teachers alike, and complemented by the targets of PLDT to expand its reach in providing for broadband services all across the country, thousands of secondary students and teachers shall benefit and will at last be armed with the ample computer competence to level them with global development.

Microsoft Basics such as MS Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, as well as the knack to surf the internet, are among the facets incorporated in the current module of Infoteach. With forged partnerships with leading purveyors of computer access (Netopia), and knowledge power (Asian College of Science and Technology), the PLDT Infoteach was formally launched on Sept 2004.

Netopia is known for its state-of-the-art training rooms and wide presence with over 150 branches nationwide to serve as venue for Infoteach. From merely providing shared access facilities, now Netopia functions as a supplemental school offering wide array of online courses (eLearning) thru its partnerships with various reputable eLearning content providers in the world.

”The PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program intends to advocate the enhancement of our students’ and teachers’ computer aptitude, to simplify their academic endeavors and make life in general more convenient,” averred Del Rosario.

To date, over 5,000 students and teachers have benefited from the program, and almost 100 schools have signed up for the incoming batch of 2009. PLDT Foundation President Butch Meily expressed his positive foresight of the program stating, “I am greatly encouraged by how big the program has become. We feel that information technology and the internet are vital tools in the Filipino life.”

The PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program has indeed taken off full scale and shows no sign in waning with its objectives.  PLDT also launched the PLDT myDSL Broadband Quiz which boasts of the finest crop among the graduates of the program; proof that a worthy advocacy shall never recede no matter how big the obstacle.  So surf’s up for Pinoys because PLDT Infoteach will take us on a ride to unlimited portals of the Information Superhighway.

PLDT Foundation President Rene Meily speaks before the PLDT Infoteach Outreach batch of 2008 student and teacher graduates during the Infoteach Commemncement Exercises held at San Beda College - Manila on March 7, 2009

 
Attending the Graduation Ceremony, over 1,000 student and teacher graduates of the PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program batch of 2008

PLDT Public Affairs Head Ramon R. Isberto (center) and Community Relations Head Evelyn Mamauag – Del Rosario pose for posterity at the PLDT Infoteach Outreach Program Batch of 2008 Graduation reception held at the St. Maur’s Lobby of the San Beda College. Also on photo are (l-r) Ben Calderon Creative Insights Account Manager, Netopia Marketing Manager Archie Nicasio and Robert Dequito, Corporate Accounts and Business Development Manager.