ELSA Global Home

DepEd Secretary Lapus visits ELSA Text2Teach school

November 26, 2007

Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus visited the J. Marquez School of Peace, an Education and Livelihood Skills Alliance (ELSA) Text2Teach school in Cotabato City, on November 8. The school has a predominantly Muslim student population, and is a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) model school for peace.

Secretary Lapus turned over additional English Text2Teach videos and peace education modules from ELSA to J. Marquez principal Agney Taruc in a simple ceremony. A Text2Teach class demonstration was also conducted.

Also present during the event were USAID mission director Jon Lindborg, USAID Office of Education chief Thomas Crehan, and Education Development Center’s chief of party William Potter.

The Text2Teach project enables teachers and students to access multimedia educational materials. The teacher sends an SMS or text message request to a dedicated Globe number for a specific lesson which will be downloaded via satellite to a media master connected to the school’s television set. To retrieve, for instance, the video clip on fungi, the teacher has to type the keyword 't2t' (for text2teach) along with the video's code number, KB1533, after which he or she sends the message to an assigned access code.

Evaluation results have proven that the Text2Teach project is an effective technology for improving learning gains.

"Everybody has to start somewhere. A good education is your ticket to a better life,” Secretary Lapus said addressing the students. “The positive impact of the program on education is encouraging, and we look forward to its continuous success.”
 
ELSA has brought the Text2Teach technology to 122 schools in Mindanao through funding from the USAID’s Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS) project.