This year when the children in Dumaguete City in The Philippines returned to school, they had new computer labs to enhance their learning. It has been a long time coming. After his retirement Park Cities Rotarian, Bud Naifeh, and his wife joined the Peace Corps in 2006. They were deployed to Dumaguete City, where Bud was the Business Advisor to the Department of Science and Technology.
However, he was also challenged by the Peace Corps to help with an up-to-then apparently intractable problem, to help 18 thru 24 year-olds find employment. Once in The Philippines, he soon connected with the Rotary Clubs of Dumaguete South and Dumaguete East, where he attended regularly.
From the Director of the agency, with whom Bud became friends, he learned that the children in public schools had no training in computers until they reached high school. In The Philippines the economically challenged students attend the public schools system, but without the opportunity to use computers, their futures were limited. This is when he devised the project titled "Targeting Little Cyber-learners (TLC)". The agency Director liked the idea and gave it his support.
Our premise:
• Economically disadvantaged children are every bit as smart as affluent children. The difference is the learning environment.
• Children should receive computer training and computer assisted learning while young so the skills can help them throughout their academic process and later in the workplace. We chose 3rd though 8th grades with a focus on English, Science and Mathematics.
• The ultimate goal is to address poverty and eliminate it through education.
Without financial support at first, Bud collected used computers and had them refurbished, but was faced with several setbacks. The first was that the computers required a new expense, new wiring in the schools. In 2010 The Rotary Club of Dumaguete South partnered in the project and made a much needed grant. Then a new setback occurred in the form of a typhoon which destroyed much of what had been accomplished.
Meanwhile, technology was improving. So, the plan was changed to provide tablets to the children, which had the advantages of being less expensive and more portable. This project was gaining support and by August of 2018, the officials of Dumaguete City and of the Department of Education formalized a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rotary Club of Park Cities, represented by Bud Naifeh, and the Rotary Club of Dumaguete East, in order to “scale up computerization for quality education in public schools.”
By August, 2019, RCPC was in the process of delivering 810 tablet computers to provide 45 computers to each of 18 schools. The total budget of $107,000 was raised through grants from the RCPC Foundation, the Rotary Club of Flint, MI, and the Rotary Club of Dumaguete East. An RI Foundation International Grant, a grant from Dumageute City of US$42.000, along with a grant from Distirct 5810 completed the total. The support of Owen Devlin and PDGs Rick Amsberry and Bill Slicker was instrumental in the district’s partnership in the project. It is expected that 13,500+ children, from third through eighth grade will participate.
As this school year opens, the new “computer learning centers” are ready in every public elementary school in the city. The future today is much brighter for these students. The computer skills they will learn in the “centers” will open greater opportunities in high school and in their future career paths. Recent reports from the schools are that the children are excited and eager to use their new computers!