<p>A Ray of Hope: Illuminating Education With Solar Power in the Philippines</p>
Ian Dela Cruz is a teacher at a rural school in Culion, an island situated in the Calamian Group of islands in the Philippines.
Known for its rich biodiversity and history, Culion is also one of the country’s most remote and under-resourced educational settings. “We have a total of 40 students here from kindergarten to grade six,” says Cruz. The biggest challenge for Cruz isn’t the students. It’s the lack of infrastructure, the challenging environment and the complex logistics.
“Working on a remote island is difficult,” Cruz explains. “Resource materials are hard to come by.”
Compounding the difficulty is the process of getting to school. It’s not as simple or easy as boarding a school bus.
“We need to take a boat to get here,” says Marneli Calingao, another teacher at the school. “There’s also no signal here — and no electricity.” Yet in every challenge lies an opportunity for innovation. At least, that’s what Insight teammate Edgar Ampil believed.
Ampil saw the potential to drive positive change and leverage tech for good.
“A friend was named as the Executive Director of the Cartwheel Foundation — an organization that advocates for empowering indigenous communities through education — so I reached out to see how Insight could help,” Ampil explains.This relationship would turn the lights on in this rural school in a surprising and inspiring way.
We need to take a boat to get here. There’s also no signal here — and no electricity.
As we marvel at the almost daily breakthroughs in emerging technology, we take many critical technologies for granted: Electricity. Internet. Power.
Ampil and his Insight Manila team partnered with the Cartwheel Foundation and Solar Solutions. Together, they discovered that a seemingly unassuming aspect of the region could be both a challenge and a life-changing solution.
With nearly 300 days of sunshine a year on average, Culion was a perfect candidate to unleash the potential of solar energy. Leveraging this abundant resource, this dream team designed, planned, built and installed a solar power station.
This renewable and consistent power supply allows students to focus on learning, instead of the availability of electricity. Teachers focus on connecting with students and using technology to improve their lessons, instead of worrying about connectivity.
Providing a sustainable system for the school required more than sun-powered educational tools. It meant building a reliable learning environment that students and teachers could take full advantage of.
Insight’s commitment to Culion extended beyond supplying equipment. Insight Manila teammates made personal investments in the form of time, training and technical mentoring. After all, education is powered most by unlocking the power of people and technology.
The entire Insight Manila team poured their hearts into this mission. Many team members personally donated peripherals, such as inkjet cartridges for the printer, along with assorted supplies — 16 boxes in total — for the teachers and students.
The teachers in Culion vouched for the project’s impact. “It’s such a huge help that access to electricity will now be easier for us,” Cruz says. This sentiment is shared by Calingao, who no longer has to voyage to the nearest town to print materials for the children in her class.
The impact of this ambitious project is widely felt — and Insight Manila is just getting started. Plans are currently underway to launch a similar initiative in Zamboanga — a testament to the success of this partnership.
It’s such a huge help that access to electricity will now be easier for us.
Our commitment, our involvement and our investment in the people of Culion is just the beginning. For Insight Manila, every sunbeam is a lived expression of our shared values: Hunger, Heart and Harmony.These values define our culture, and they guide our decisions and our behavior every day.
Hunger: The persistent drive for improvement. Creatively leveraging technology and renewable energy resources in a geographically-remote area to deliver results for Culion is a great illustration of this value.
Heart: The personal involvement of our team. This project showed a level of care and compassion that was truly personal, not just financial.
Harmony: The strength of our partnerships. Combining the talents of teammates from the Cartwheel Foundation, Solar Solutions and Insight led to a great solution and the success of the Culion project.
Our efforts in Culion reaffirm two key takeaways.
First, technology and energy — when coupled with the power of partnerships and people — can literally deliver a brighter future. Second, no matter the challenge, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. And sometimes, it’s solar-powered.
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