REACHING LAST-MILE LEARNERS IN THE PHILIPPINES THROUGH THE SAMSUNG SMART CLASSROOM

The Philippines has more than forty-six thousand (46,000) public schools across the archipelago, of which around a ninth is located in very remote areas with no access to electricity, transportation infrastructure or internet connectivity. These are the so-called off-grid schools, with an estimated 900,000 students. These schools are situated in communities that are composed mostly of indigenous peoples or tribes. The schoolchildren in these schools lack learning resources, and the schools themselves have very low enrolment rates and high dropout rates. Samsung Electronics Philippines, Corporation (Samsung) partnered with the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) to reach these last-mile learners through the Samsung SMART Classroom Program. In early 2015, Samsung and DepEd started establishing the Samsung SMART Classroom in six selected schools in these remote, inaccessible areas. The solar-powered Classroom included equipment such as learning tablets and laptops, a charging station, mini-server and wireless access points. More importantly, the Samsung SMART Classroom also included e-learning modules which the teachers and students can access offline. These learning modules provided instructional and assessment tools for teachers. They also supplemented traditional teaching materials and covered Grades one (1) through 12. Teacher training was also regularly provided to the teachers and school administrators to improve their pedagogical approaches. Students were encouraged to study at home in the evenings through the use of individual solar-powered lamps. These lamps replaced hazardous kerosene lamps they used at home. By end-2015, six (6) schools were covered by the program with around 1000 schoolchildren and 80 teachers and school administrators. Initial evaluation by Samsung and DepEd indicates that the Samsung SMART Classroom is bringing positive results in terms of increased engagement, higher test scores, increased enrolment rates and decreased dropout rates. Students have also improved their communication and collaboration skills. With the use of e-learning modules, teachers have developed teaching materials that are more suited to the particular tribe or indigenous group that their students belong to. Recognizing the positive changes that the Program has brought, Samsung and the Department of Education is replicating the program in other off-grid schools in the Philippines.