Young students in the south excel
Students from Kabuling Elementary School, a remote off-grid school in the southern Philippine town of Buluan in Maguindanao recently harvested gold and silver medals in an academic district-wide mathematics and science competition. They say that it is electricity from the AMORE-installed solar panel on their school that has spelled the difference between learning less and learning much, and which, ultimately, had spelled the difference between winning and losing in the district competition. “They are ahead in learning compared to children in other schools in other barangays of Maguindanao,” their proud teacher says. Education through Multi-media or the E-Media project commenced alongside the school’s electrification. CDs of educational television programs such as Hiraya Manawari, Mathtinik and Epol/Apol began to be used by teachers as instruction aid, and were played on solar-powered dvd player and television. Over 100 schools which house over 51,000 students have benefited from AMORE’s school electrification program in Mindanao.
AMORE is a rural electrification project that energizes off-grid households and communities by the use of renewable energy sources such as solar and microhydro. To date, it has energized over 12,000 households in over 400 barangays in Mindanao.