Last December 2, Orange Magazine TV witnessed P&G Philippines‘ distribution of laptops to students of Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School in Tondo, Manila as part of the e.Studyante Launch.
Students at the Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School discovered a new world of knowledge at the launch of the e.Studyante program, an e-learning advocacy program of P&G Philippines done in partnership with Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and the Synergeia Foundation.
The e.Studyante program will provide beneficiary school children with child-friendly laptops from the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) Association and internet connectivity from Smart. With these, students are enabled to enjoyable self-discover a wider world of knowledge that helps them be more competitive in the future. They learn while sharing and connecting with each other, their communities and with the world.
School children in the Philippines face many challenges. Even the simple walk to school in the wee hours of the morning can be an arduous journey. In some parts of the country, they cross two mountain peaks, wade rivers, and cross muddy roads. When they arrive, they are faced with meager resources – overcrowded classrooms, outdated books and lack of school supplies – which all make for an uninspiring learning environment.
Through technology and connectivity, P&G’s e.Studyante program hopes to make the journey more worthwhile and meaningful for students. The program provides tools for the students that make learning fun, self-empowering, and even gives them access to the latest ideas and information that can be found online, keeping them competitive in an increasingly technology-driven and connected world.
“These child-friendly laptops were designed for use in developing countries to help empower the world’s poorest children through education. They are not only very durable and energy-efficient, they also come with learning software for kids. Through these laptops, students become more engaged and involved in school. The learning process becomes more student-focused as they learn to discover new things for themselves and share ideas with each other,” explained Chad Sotelo, P&G Country Marketing Manager.
“We intend for this to complement traditional learning methods and tools instead of competing with them. A laptop and internet connectivity becomes their window to the world’s knowledge and places it at their fingertips real-time. People and places they had no access to before are now within their reach. These tools expand their horizons and minds, and encourages them to dream and attain a brighter future,” Sotelo said.
The students of Manuel L. Quezon discovered this firsthand as video messages from celebrity supporters of the program were shown to them as they received their laptops – including an email from the President of the Philippines himself!
With the guidance of P&G employee volunteers, the kids also experienced the thrill of learning about email with the exercise of sending their very first email message as a reply to President Benigno Aquino III.
The Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School marks the beginning for P&G and the e.Studyante program. After an impactful 75th year, P&G is taking its commitment to children’s education to the next level with e.Studyante, which aims to provide 1,000,000 laptops by P&G’s centennial anniversary.
“This is not something we can do alone,” Sotelo said. “To help us reach our goal of 1,000,000 laptops, we would like to invite moms and Filipinos all over the country to support the e.Studyante program by buying P&G promo packs and spreading the word about the program to family and friends.”
People can support the e.Studyante program by buying specially marked P&G promo packs available nationwide. You can save up to 40%[1] on your favorite P&G products and contribute to making students’ education more engaging and fun through laptops and the internet.
Here’s a video performance of the students of Manuel L. Quezon Elementary School (with background song performed by Lea Salonga):
Participating P&G brands include Safeguard, Tide, Pampers, Downy, Ariel, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Joy, Rejoice, Whisper, Olay, Gillette, Vicks and Ambi-Pur.
“We are committed to this program. In the next few months, we will give out a total of 400 laptops to five schools nationwide. But we hope that with your support, we will be able to give even more laptops in the coming years so we can reach the goal of providing 1,000,000 laptops to school children,” said Sotelo.
“We are very honored to be part of this initiative,” said Ramon Isberto, head of Smart’s Public Affairs Group. “Smart has always been supportive of programs that aim to improve the quality of education through ICT. We hope the Internet connectivity we provided makes learning easier, and information accessible to more children.”
P&G enjoins all Filipinos to support the e.Studyante program and help gift each student with wider knowledge and a brighter future! To find out more about the e.Studyante program, visit the e.Studyante facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/e.StudyantePH
About Procter & Gamble: Four billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers ®, Tide ®, Ariel ®, Always ®, Whisper ®, Pantene ®, Mach3 ®, Bounty ®, Dawn ®, Pringles ®, Folgers ®, Charmin ®, Downy ®, Lenor ®, Iams ®, Crest ®, Oral-B ®, Actonel ®, Duracell ®, Olay ®, Head & Shoulders ®, Wella ®, Gillette ®, and Braun ®. The P&G community consists of over 135,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. In 2010, we will celebrate 75 years of operations in the Philippines. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.
P&G and partners give students laptops and connectivity with its e.Studyante program
