Apo Island receives School-in-a-Bag from Smart

PLDT Inc. (PLDT) and wireless arm Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) have delivered their innovative learning package School-in-a-Bag (SIAB) to Apo Elementary School in Apo Island, Negros Oriental, one of the Philippines’ last mile schools.

Located 7 kilometers off the southeastern tip of Negros Oriental, the SIAB navigated challenging waters to reach Apo Island to give students and teachers access to digital tools and innovative educational content.

“As a technology company, we believe that we are among the key players in closing the digital divide, especially in education. Through our SIAB program, we are ensuring that children in remote communities like Apo Island will have access to the same digital learning tools as their counterparts in urban areas,” said Marylou Gocotano, Visayas Relations Head of PLDT and Smart Stakeholder Management Team.

The learning package included a laptop, tablets, Smart LTE pocket WiFi devices with load allocation, and pre-downloaded learning materials such as contextualized Learning Activity Sheets (LAS) and 10 #LearnSmart apps that teach literacy and numeracy in various local languages.