SKY in partnership with DepEd signs MOA to support distance education

Sky partners with the government to support the Department of Education’s (DepEd) distance education program amid the health crisis. With the partnership, more students will be able to learn via television and the internet.

Photo credit: abs-cbn.com

SKY signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with DepEd divisions in regional areas, giving schools in Baguio, Laoag, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, General Santos, and Zamboanga access to DepEd TV shows on cable.

SKY will give DepEd TV a dedicated channel, which will broadcast lessons per week, showing the most essential learning competencies prescribed by the government. 

On the other hand, in a separate memorandum of agreement with DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones and Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar, SKY has dedicated to provide 32 DepEd priority schools nationwide a SKY Fiber connection, giving them access to the DepEd classes online. 

The department wanted to deliver lessons to public school students at home through television. For them to prepare, DepEd carefully selected broadcaster-teachers in the country and they underwent a series of training on how to deliver interactive class episodes for students.

DepEd also enlist the help of the country's top broadcast journalists to train the selected broadcaster-teachers for their television learning service which includes Karen Davila, Kim Atienza, Jaque Manabat, Abner Mercado, Korina Sanchez and many more.

We are here in support of the vision set out by the secretary that education must continue,

SKYcable president and COO Antonio Ventosa said during the signing ceremony. 

Ventosa also thanked the DepEd for the opportunity and the support for the project, to provide access to as many homes and students as possible via cable and Wi-Fi facilities.

SKY has been an advocate of education since 1996 with the creation of the SKY Foundation, which later on evolved into the Knowledge Channel Foundation. It gave public elementary schools access to videos acquired from the United States, Canada, and Europe, and soon produced more materials based on the K-12 curriculum of the Department of Education. Through this, SKY continues to reach households nationwide as it airs the lessons on SKYcable Channel 5. 

Knowledge Channel responded to the call of the government to support distance learning amid the pandemic as it launched the “School at Home” Campaign.

Last August 24, Knowledge Channel started airing week 1 lessons in Filipino, Math, Science, English, and Araling Panlipunan for the first quarter from Kinder to Grade 10 and the Alternative Learning System, allowing children to start learning ahead of the opening of classes.