SCIENCE and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly Operated Kiosks or Starbooks, by the Department of Science and Technology-Science and Technology Information Institute, signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with three new partners – the DoST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), Indang Cavite Highlands Lions Club, and Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) – for the distribution and promotion of Starbooks in chosen beneficiary public schools.
Starbooks is an interface that contains digitized science and technology (S&T) resources that aim to create interest in the field of S&T and hopefully increase the number of Filipino learners enrolling in S&T courses.
DoST-ASTI will make Starbooks resources available through its LokaLTE and RuralCasting services in selected pilot grade schools and high schools.
It will also coordinate with DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute (STII) to identify potential sites, deployment of equipment at the identified and approved sites, and information, education and communication (EIC) materials monitoring and maintenance.
DoST-ASTI Director Dr. Franz de Leon said that their agency has already broke ground for two sites for the Resilient Education Information Infrastructure for the New Normal (REIINN) project LokaLTE Base Station in Tanay, Rizal and Castillejos, Zambales, and hope to add two more sites within 2022.
“Both STII and ASTI [have] demonstrate our continuous commitment to provide information and connectivity to geographically isolated schools and communities through technology-based interventions. By reinforcing this partnership, we are taking another significant step to achieve our shared goal of improving the state of infrastructure, education, resilience, and overall quality of life in the country,” he added.
On the other hand, Starbooks’ partnership with the Indang Cavite Highlands Lions Club would introduce the project to Lions Club’s regional sectors and club governor for possible sponsorship of Starbooks-enabled computers to chosen beneficiary communities or schools and co-organize activities with DoST-STII to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education such as virtual training workshops or webinars.
Meanwhile, TIKA will provide Starbooks solar-powered computer units with kiosks to its identified schools and shoulder the delivery expenses during the deployment of these kiosks in Palawan.
In a message, TIKA Country Director Fahri Burak Aydogdu said that the Starbooks Project of DoST-STII has caught his attention when he arrived in the Philippines as it “rises up to many challenges Filipinos are facing regarding accessible, free, and viable educational tools.”
He noted that Starbooks’ vast library of over 500,000 digitized journals, publications, technical and project reports, theses and dissertations, and directories were made available online in varying media formats such as text, audio and video.
“On behalf of TIKA, I would like to thank you for making us a part of this fruitful endeavor. I sincerely hope that this development cooperation project contributes to the progress of the Filipino nation, and to the further fostering of the ties between Turkey and the Philippines,” Aydogdu added.
DoST-STII, through Starbooks, assured continuous efforts to sustain and support the project to make science education more accessible to Filipino learners, teachers, as well as researchers nationwide.
By Kaithreen Cruz