Naujan ALS Launches Panikian eSkwela Center

After the lapse of two (2) years since the launching of the first eSkwela Center of Alternative Learning System (ALS) in Naujan, the first Community eCenter(CeC)-eSkwela in Panikian was launched by the Municipal Government of Naujan, Department of Education (DepEd) Naujan South District and the Barangay Government of Paniquian on January 8, 2013 in Paniquian Multi-Purpose Hall.

CENTER HUMAN RESOURCES: (from left) Fernan Politico, Mobile Teacher; Hon. Milagros Abela, Brgy. Captain; Verna Dela Rosa, District ALS Coordinato; Engr. Elmer Lopoz, CeC-eSkwela Center Manager; Hon. Maria Angeles Casubuan, Mayor & Vienna Matibag, Executive Assistant I.

The event was attended by ALS implementers in Naujan and Oriental Mindoro headed by Clemente Politico, Division ALS Program Supervisor; officials and employees of the Municipal Government of Naujan headed by Mayor Maria Angeles Casubuan; Sangguniang Barangay (SB) Members led by Barangay Captain Milagros Abela. 

OSYAs SERVICE FELLOWSHIP: Attended by ALS implementers in Oriental Mindoro with Clemente Politico, ALS Program Supervisor (front, extreme right) and Jenelyn Baylon, ALS Most Outstanding Mobile Teacher (front, 4th from left).

ALS eSkwela-Community eCenter(CeC) came into being with the initiative of SB Paniquian who requested the 6 computer units of desktop computers plus a printer to Cong. Rodolfo G. Valencia, 1st District Representative. They coordinated with DepEd South District for manpower and supervision of the said program. The Municipal Government of Naujan supplied the program with a learning facilitator and a Center Manager. 

Sta. Maria eSkwela Center

Sta. Maria eSkwela Center is located in barangay Sta. Maria, 15 kilometers from Naujan town proper.

Attending learners came from Sta. Maria itself and the three adjacent barangays of Apitong, Sto. Niňo and Barcenaga.

It is equipped with computer lab of four computers and a printer connected as a local area network (LAN). One computer serves as the server wherein learning modules are installed and accessed by the learners via a web browser from any of the other three computers.

It also has its own offline session room that can accommodate 35-50 learners. As 4 learners are inside the computer lab for online sessions, the rest attend to classroom environment series of lecture-tutorials and activities.

Infrastructure facility (former Barangay Hall) and electricity was provided by the Barangay Government of Sta. Maria. The ICT infrastructure was contributed by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) through the National Computer Center (NCC).

Teaching manpower was provided by DepEd West District of Naujan for Mobile Teacher (MT). A Learning Facilitator (LF) and the Center Manager (CM) was provided by the Municipal Government of Naujan. The Barangay Government provides Barangay Tanod/Police to watch over the facility at night.

At present (2013), it has 22 learners with ages ranging from 17-35 years old.

CeC-eSkwela Naujan made it to Annual Investment Plan

After several attempts of including Community eCenter (CeC) program to Annual Investment Plan (AIP), it was finally accommodated when the Committee of Appropriation of Sangguniang Bayan (Municipal Council) acted on its proposal during public hearing for the adoption of AIP 2012.

When CeC-Naujan had its beginning in the 3rd Quarter of 2010 as eSkwela (or eLearning) of Alternative Learning System (ALS) , it has no fund available. Unlike most government programs that do not commence without a ready budget, this one operated at the outset with no initial funding. Its operations were made possible only through the following:

• ALS-eSkwela is an inter-agency project of Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), Department of Education (DepEd) and the Local Government Unit (LGU) of Naujan. All three (3) agencies contributed in-kind resources such as computers and softwares (CICT), curriculum and implementation/supervision (DepEd) and frontline staff, management and sustainability of supplies (LGU). 

• The program was immediately lodged in the Municipal Government of Naujan for sustainability through Aids and Donations budget in the Office of the Municipal Mayor.

• Involvement of private entities were solicited for cooperative resource generation and co-ownership of the program. 

Though operations were possible, they were good only for start-ups due to resource restraints. In terms of addressing the entire crisis of the out-of-school youth and adults (OSYAs) in Naujan, existing ALS eSkwela operations are not sustainable. There has to be an action to integrate ALS-eSkwela to the regular programs of the Municipal Government of Naujan. And that was by including the program to AIP. Thus a new program was born in 2012 in the family of local government unit (LGU) of Naujan.