Globe Telecom has lent the Young Men’s Christian Association of Makati (YMCA) a helping hand to lower-income households in Makati City who still need quality learning.  Globe is rolling out its distance learning assistance project that aims to ease the financial burden of digital education on these households, many of whom have children attending select public high schools in Makati City.

Under this partnership, the telco giant, through its enterprise arm, Globe Business, pledged P500,000 worth of support to 50 student beneficiaries for 10 months during the current school year in the form of data plans, prepaid WiFi kits, and monthly cash allowance.

“In such an extraordinary time for learning, Globe endeavors to foster partnerships with organizations like YMCA to ensure that students are given equal access to new normal education,” said Peter Maquera, Senior Vice President for Globe Business, Enterprise Group.

Through the YMCA project, each beneficiary will receive a mySchoolSURF monthly subscription through Globe’s Load Up platform, coupled with 20GB open access and 1 GB daily allocation for learning and productivity apps; and a prepaid WiFi device to ensure continuous connectivity.

On top of this, the students will also get a cash allowance for the next 10 months to fund other online learning expenses.

“We are thankful for our partnership with Globe because through this initiative, we can eliminate the challenges of online learning and empower the underprivileged youth to forge a greater path for themselves,” said Tom Banguis, Committee Chairman, YMCA, Makati.

Empowering the education sector, one Filipino at a time

The abrupt shift to online learning to ensure the continuity of education amid the pandemic has worsened learning inequalities in the Philippines, with many hampered by poor access to connectivity, slow internet, and lack of gadgets.

To address the challenges of online education, Globe recently launched GoLearn, the unified, company-wide platform aimed at helping the country achieve 21^st century learning through access to a wide range of connectivity solutions and learning platforms.

This year, Globe also extended zero-rating for government learning platforms, such as DepEd Commons and Phil-Connect, to allow users to access the sites for free, and with data only charged when they are brought to an external site.

Another initiative to sustain its commitment to help bring quality education closer to Filipinos is its ELibrary, a free learning resource that Globe and TM subscribers can access to help them with their assignments and expand their learning through the materials made available on the platform.

Meanwhile, Globe’s major efforts include partnerships with schools to support students from low-income households through free access to apps for remote learning. It has also been extending assistance to various educational institutions to help schools navigate through digitalization through Globe’s E-Skwela Webinars and online training programs.

Globe also continues to carry out  its mission of keeping netizens, especially the youth, safe from online threats and dangers through its renowned Digital Thumbprint Program. Part of the program includes making an e-module series on responsible online behavior available for all netizens through Youtube and through the Globe website. These eModules make up the self-paced variant of the Digital Thumbprint Program workshops, which have become even more relevant in a pandemic.

“We believe that every Filipino student deserves quality education no matter what the circumstances are. This is why Globe is committed to these initiatives to help bridge the digital gaps in our local education system,” added Maquera.

The company strongly supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly UN SDG No. 4 on the provision of quality education and UN SDG No. 9, which highlights the roles of infrastructure and innovation as crucial drivers of economic growth and development. Globe is committed to upholding the 10 United Nations Global Compact principles and 10 UN SDGs.

To know more about Globe’s solutions for education, visit our website.