Manila, schools latest InqSkwela partner
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FOR THE STUDENTS | InqSkwela’s partnership with Manila will be sealed on February 28 by Vice Mayor John Marvin “Yul” Nieto (second from left) and Superintendent Maria Magdalena Lim of the Department of Education – Division of Schools Manila. signing of the agreement for the requester
Roy Raul Mendiola, the newspaper’s national sales director; and Raymund Soberano, vice president of the Inquirer Foundation. (EUGENE ARANETA)
MANILA, Philippines — Twenty public schools in the city of Manila now have access to Inquirer Plus, the digital edition of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), in a partnership that not only offers the newspaper as a trusted source for news and information, but also as teaching materials that can help improve learning skills and enrich classroom discourse.
The fourth and most recent “InqSkwela” project was officially launched on February 28th with the signing of an agreement between PDI and the local government.
Under the terms of the agreement, the digital newspaper will serve as a supplemental learning tool for teachers of Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies), English and Journalism. The 20 participating schools have daily access to Inquirer Plus through their respective education websites and a dedicated student Facebook page created by each school’s student council.
previous partners
At the end of the school year, a cross-school quiz and debate tournament based on published Inquirer content will be held as the culmination of activities for social studies and English classes.
InqSkwela was launched in 2019 with four high-density Metro Manila schools serving as pilot areas, namely Ramon Magsaysay High School, Batasan Hills National High School, Fort Bonifacio High School and CAA Elementary School. In 2022, the Inquirer Foundation found a new InqSkwela partner in the Valenzuela city government under then-Mayor Rex Gatchalian.
This January, InqSkwela reached Victoria’s City, Negros Occidental, where 19 schools were included in the initiative.
For the Manila partnership, Vice Mayor John Marvin “Yul” Nieto signed on behalf of the local government, while Vice President Raymund Soberano, PDI National Sales Manager Roy Raul Mendiola, and Senior Business Development Officer Akiko Quijano represented the Inquirer Foundation.
In his remarks during the MOA signing, Nieto said his office would like to serve as a liaison between Manileños and members of the private sector who wish to help the city through its various advocacy projects.
As part of the partnership, the Inquirer Foundation will also support the art exhibitions of Nieto, the actor also known as Yul Servo, who is also a visual artist, with a portion of the proceeds being donated to the InqSkwela program. (Nieto held his first solo exhibition of scrap metal sculptures at the Pinto Art Museum, Antipolo City, on February 12.)
Also present at the MOA signing was Maria Magdalena Lim, Superintendent of the Department of Education – Division of Schools Manila.
media literacy
According to Inquirer Foundation executive director Connie Kalagayan, InqSkwela was designed in response to the results of the 2018 international student assessment program, which found the Philippines to have the lowest reading comprehension score of the 79 countries assessed.
By making the newspaper available to schools as supplementary learning material for middle and high school classes, the project hopes to improve students’ reading skills, critical thinking, media literacy and general understanding of current events.
Based on the report from the principals and superintendents of the participating schools, Kalagayan said the students showed remarkable improvement in their reading comprehension and other skills when the digital paper served as a teaching tool.
“Most of the children who participated in the quiz bees and debates became more confident, so alongside the improved learning skills, the boost in their confidence was a testament to the program’s success,” she added.