Starbooks turned over to schools, LGUs in Maguindanao

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1027102
• Saturday, March 3, 2018

By Noel Punzalan (PR/PNA)

COTABATO CITY -- The Department of Science and Technology in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (DOST-ARMM) turned over Thursday 15 units of Starbooks to schools and local government units (LGUs) in Maguindanao.

The Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly Operated Kiosk Station (Starbooks) is a stand alone information kiosk that contains thousands of digitized science and technology resources in various formats (text and video/audio) placed in specially designed “pods” and set in a user-friendly interface.

The kiosk features topics on food and nutrition, health and medicine, energy, environment, and livelihood technologies, among others.

The United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) funded the Starbooks Project for Maguindanao.

Hongyi Xie, WFP’s Programme head, said the organization’s mandate is to achieve zero hunger in every community worldwide. He also said natural and man-made disasters are the key factors, which cause hunger.

“We think one of the best weapons (to end hunger) is to share knowledge about these factors to the local individuals,” he said, explaining why WFP teamed-up with DOST-ARMM for the project’s implementation.

The Starbooks recipients consist of selected national secondary schools and LGUs from Maguindanao that included the Pandan National High School, Pilar Integrated Technical Vocational High School, South Upi National High School, Datu Alamanza Dilangalen, Dinganen Buldon National High School, Kabuntalan National High School, Karim National High School, Gayong National High School, Gallego Edcor National High School, Lumao National High School, Looy Integrated Technology Vocational High School, LGU of Buldon, LGU of South Upi, LGU of Northern Kabuntalan; and LGU of Kabuntalan.

Eprelin Campong, school principal of Pilar Integrated Technical Vocational High School, said the Starbooks are a great help for the education of their students.

“We have no library and we lack books. So this (Starbooks) project is a great help to us,” she said.

To date, the DOST-ARMM has turned over 51 units of Starbooks in the entire ARMM comprising the cities of Marawi and Lamitan and the provinces of Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Basilan and Lanao del Sur.