PLDT Home, together with Zone V Camera Club and the Virlanie Foundation, launched recently The Learning Hub in Barangay Bagong Silangan, Quezon City as part of its commitment to make digital services accessible for Filipinos and to help uplift lives across the country.
This initiative aims to empower Filipino students and their communities through reliable broadband internet connectivity, linking them with the rest of the world, and providing much-needed access to quality learning resources.
The Learning Hub seeks to provide Filipino children with a free-to-use learning space, powered by fast internet connection from PLDT Home and learning tools such as computers with digital applications. This initiative was likewise designed to unlock livelihood opportunities to benefit low-income families, while also offering communities with a safe entertainment hub.
“PLDT has long been committed to building a digitally inclusive Philippines where communities are empowered through technology. Connectivity has become a human right, and we believe in the project’s goal of helping provide quality education to ensure that no learner is left behind,” said PLDT and Smart Communications Director, President, and CEO Alfredo Panlilio. “We want kids in these communities to have access to the internet’s global databank and create a learning hub.”
For her part, Angela Panlilio, President of the Zone V Camera Club, which donated the gadgets for communities to use, said that witnessing the transformative impact that The Learning Hub will have on beneficiary communities will be amazing. “The potential for a graduating student to positively influence their family’s life is profound, and we are honored to be part of such meaningful change.”
“The Learning Hub is a very helpful program, and it fits our foundation’s goals of providing quality education to children,” said Arlene Fernandez, Executive Director of Virlanie Foundation, an organization that provides a safe space for children of abuse.
The Learning Hub also aims to become a sustainable initiative, aligning the PLDT Group with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) by boosting the country’s overall digital inclusivity. It likewise supports PLDT and Smart’s continuing contributions to the UN SDGs – particularly SDG 1: No Poverty and SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth – and reinforces the Group’s broader goal to promote technologies that foster educational and livelihood opportunities.
(MAIN PHOTO: PLDT and Smart Communications Director, President, and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio and Zone V Camera Club President Angela Panlilio with beneficiaries of the Virlanie Foundation)