Church Delivers Digital Library Servers to Remote Areas in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija

After several postponements due to inclement weather, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivered 11 units of the Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning (RACHEL) Plus Servers to the Schools Division Office of Nueva Ecija – San Antonio Annex at the San Antonio District office on Tuesday, October 11.

Despite the tropical cyclone warning that led to the suspension of work and classes, the turnover event was attended by principals, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) coordinators, and representatives.

RACHEL is a portable, battery-operated server with hundreds of gigabytes of educational materials available offline within its one-terabyte capacity. It’s compatible with laptops and smartphones, able to handle up to 50 devices simultaneously within a 50-meter radius. It’s like having wireless internet which students and teachers can use to search for educational videos, articles, and games.

The San Antonio, Nueva Ecija district was the first of the three areas in the Philippines to receive the RACHEL Plus Servers back in 2021 for initial testing. Panabingan Elementary School pilot tested the server through their teachers, and after a few months they declared the helpfulness of the device. They then reached out to the Church for additional servers during Elder Steven Leininger’s visit last April.

“We are very blessed because they provided materials for our teachers that will help deliver quality education to our children,” San Antonio District Supervisor Esther D. Ramos, Ph. D. said. “It will make teaching easier,” she added.

Some areas in the district have always had trouble with cellular signals and internet access. The situation is made worse by frequent typhoons.

Some benefits highlighted in the report of the pilot use of the server were: it was handy, portable, and easily transferred from one room to another. In addition, the games entertained and motivated the students and helped them learn independent research.

Recipient schools agreed to focus the use of the device on improving the reading level of grades 1 to 2, the reading level with comprehension of grades 2 to 6, the numeracy skills among grades 1 to 6, and improving the research skills among elementary teachers.

“The server is already equipped with lessons mainly from foreign countries. We just had it contextualized to fit the needs of our learners. We first had our teachers use it in teaching these past few months. Since the new school year has just started, we plan on letting our students use RACHEL to help fill in the learning gaps brought by modular learning during the pandemic,” Louie W. Cruz, Principal I of Panabingan Elementary School, emphasized.

The following schools received the servers: Buliran Elementary School, Cama Juan Elementary School, Lawang Kupang Elementary School, Luyos Elementary School, Panabingan Elementary School, San Francisco Elementary School, Sanggalang Elementary School, Sta. Barbara North Elementary School, Sta. Barbara South Elementary School, Sto. Cristo East Elementary East School and Sto. Cristo West Elementary School.

To monitor and evaluate how the units are helping the students, the schools agreed to submit a progress report to the partner charities responsible for providing the RACHEL server.