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Championing the company’s core value of “malasakit”, Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) is partnering with popular e-commerce sites Shopee, Lazada and Grab in raising funds to help underprivileged students cope with the demands of distance learning.
“As another schoolyear under the COVID-19 pandemic opens, we continue leaning on our technological expertise to come up with connectivity solutions and roll out programs that give students and teachers access to the new normal of education ensuring that no learner is left behind,” said Jane J. Basas, SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business at Smart.
From September 26 to 30, 2021, Smart is donating Php 50 for every purchase of PLDT Prepaid Home WiFi and Smart Bro Prepaid Pocket WiFi devices, as well as for every top up of Famload Video 599, to a special fund that will provide connectivity and learning solutions to student beneficiaries.
Working with Synergeia Foundation, Smart will distribute LearnSmart kits to students who are struggling with blended learning. The package comes with connectivity essentials like the Smart Bro LTE Pocket WiFi, the perfect companion for students and teachers in the shift to blended learning, as it allows users to connect multiple devices to the internet anytime, anywhere via Smart LTE.
Also included in the kit is a thumb drive that is preinstalled with Smart’s pandemic-resilient education tools like the Central Visayan Institute Foundation-Dynamic Learning Program (CVIF-DLP) Learning Activity Sheets, Maging Laging Handa materials, Smart’s eStorytelling video collection and SEAMEO INNOTECH’s Digital Citizenship e-book and learning packets.
With face-to-face classes limited to a few schools in the Philippines, most academic institutions are utilizing blended learning through a combination of broadcast media, printed modules and online platforms to continue education. However, students who are under financial constraints experience difficulties in transitioning to online learning.
PLDT and Smart provide access to inclusive quality education in basic to tertiary levels, through Information and Communications Technology (ICT), content, pedagogy, and capacity building to ensure that there is #NoLearnerLeftBehind. The two companies are also staunch advocates of ensuring cyber safety and creating safe spaces online.
With education as a flagship CSR program, PLDT and Smart enable learning communities through technology as part of their commitment to help the nation achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #4: Quality Education.
