For the past two years, Lamitan City has been educating its constituents through the use of information, communication, and technology (ICT). This 6th class city located in the province of Basilan in southern Philippines did not let limited resources hamper its goal of bridging education to its people through the use of computers and the internet.
A recipient of the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) Tech4ED Project – a project which aims to provide access points for communities on ICT and related services such as basic computer literacy training, the city was provided with computer packages with pre-installed software programs to put up its Tech4ED Training Center strategically located on the ground floor of the city hostel. The DICT’s Tech4ED Project aims to provide access points for communities on ICT and related services such as basic computer literacy training. Lamitan City’s Tech4ED Center caters to various members of the community which includes students, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and farmers among others. Students are free to conduct online research to aid their studies while the elderly, PWDs, IPs, and farmers are taught of basic computer skills and how to use the internet as a means for communication.
In 2018, Lamitan City’s Tech4ED Training Center was awarded as among the most outstanding emerging Tech4ED Centers in the country by the DICT. The following year, the Center placed third in the DICT’s Tech4ED GAD Awards: DigiPinay Category – ranking third as the Tech4ED Center with the greatest number of women trained for 2018. Currently, it is the only Tech4ED Center in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) to receive the said recognition.
Among those who were trained in the Center were local women Yakan weavers. They were taught of basic computer skills and online marketing and were able to put up their online shop on Facebook, the Lamitan City Yakan Weavers Online Shop, where they can promote and sell their products to a wider clientele. Now, the group manages their own online shop and responds directly to queries received through their Facebook page.
Through the leadership of City Mayor Rose Furigay, the Tech4ED Center will continue to reach out and provide access to education and ICT to community members with the plan to put up additional Tech4ED Training Centers in the city’s far-flung barangays.