The Teacher Development Program (TDP) through eLearning of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) was among the eight recipients of the University of the Philippines (UP) 2nd Gawad Pangulo: Award for Excellence in Public Service. The award was given on 5 December 2017 at UP Diliman, Quezon City during the Gawad Pangulo Ceremony hosted by the Office of the President and organized by the UP Padayon Public Service Office under the Office of the Vice President for Public Affairs (OVPPA). The Award aimed to recognize outstanding public service initiatives of various units of the UP System that exhibit compassion (malasakit) to the different publics that the university serves.
The TDP is one of UPOU’s community engagement programs that aims to improve the quality of education in the public elementary and high schools in Mauban, Quezon by upgrading the knowledge and skills of the mentors. The program consisted of support for non-formal training programs/courses like teaching strategies, integration of computer and internet use to teaching and learning, and scholarship grants to the diploma and master’s programs offered by UPOU. The program was a joint effort of UPOU and its partners: Quezon Power (Philippines) Ltd.; Mauban Local Government Unit; Department of Education-Quezon; and UPOU Foundation, Inc.
To date, the program has trained 132 teachers and more than 100 teachers had successfully completed their degree programs at UPOU. A few are still in the process of completing their courses. Aside from the training programs, TDP was also able to help establish an eLearning Ville in Mauban, Quezon, through partnerships with the Office of Congressman Mark Enverga, PLDT, Intel-Philippines, National Computer Center, and the Department of Science and Technology. The eLearning Ville is a model which combined the concepts of a Community eCenter and Learning Town.
This is the third award received by TDP. It has earlier received the International eAsia 2011 Award and the International Good Practice on Lifelong Learning. (ESPMANIPOL)
