• Center to train provincial schools division teachers
       • Company, which allocated P3million for the projects, will also upgrade facility in Cebu City schools division office


CEBU’s public school teachers will have computer training in fully equipped centers by summer with the help of a foundation that helps schoolchildren learn about information technology.

Bigfoot Asia Pacific Foundation Inc. released yesterday a grant of P3 million to set up a computer training center for the provincial schools division and to upgrade the one in the Cebu City schools division office along Imus Road.

The two divisions will receive P1.5 million each. In yesterday’s memorandum of agreement signing at the Bigfoot Center, Cebu Schools Division Superintendent Recaredo Borgonia and Cebu City Schools Division Superintendent Leonilo Oliva said the money will be a great help in improving their services.

Borgonia said Bigfoot’s contribution will benefit the 560,000 school children in the province, 90 percent of whom still have not access to computers.

Bigfoot chief executive officer Joe Mercado in a press conference said Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia suggested the renovation of a room in the former provincial jail along M.J. Cuenco to be used as training center.

Bigfoot will provide computers, servers, software, structured cabling and internet connection. Helping Bigfoot in the project is Globe Telecom for the Cebu province and Division’s center and the Phil. Long Distance Telephone Co. for Cebu City’s center.

“There’s no way we could move forward if we don’t have information technology,” Mercado said.

He believes empowering citizens with technology will help solve problems like poverty and economic dislocations.

Aside from the training for teachers, Bigfoot will also give maintenance services for the project.

Since it was launched three years ago, the Bigfoot foundation has already given over P15 million to Cebu’s public schools for computer laboratory, training of teachers and books.

At present it has set up seven computer laboratories in schools located in the city’s mountain barangays and 26 in the towns of Barili, Dumanjug, Daanbantayan, Carcar, Naga, Camotes, Oslob and Liloan. CYR