By Espie Angelica A. de Leon
Smart Communications, in cooperation with Community of Learners Foundation and developer startup OrangeFix, launched on July 5 the Smart Batibot iOS app at the Aracama Restaurant and Lounge at the Bonifacio Global City.
The Smart Batibot mobile app is a digital interactive version of the long-running educational children?s TV show Batibot. It is also the first educational app in the Filipino language aligned with the kindergarten curriculum of the Department of Education.
Previously launched on Android, the app teaches kids how to sort, match, and group objects, among others through fun games.
It also allows kids to practice tracing letters and learn about the different shapes, colors, numbers and letter sounds.
Its other features are ?Awiting Batibot? which allows children to enjoy singing along to the different songs of the beloved TV show and ?Kwentong Batibot? which contains stories promoting moral values.
?There is a need for digital learning content that promotes the Filipino language as well as Filipino values,? said Ramon Isberto, head of Smart?s public affairs department. ?The Batibot app addresses that need.?
He added, ?Many parents here and abroad said their kids had grown up speaking English, and that they wanted their children to be proficient in the Filipino language, too. The Batibot app will certainly help them brush up on Filipino in a fun, interactive way.?
Smart has installed the Batibot app in the tablets donated by the company to public schools in underserved communities around the Philippines including those without electricity under its TechnoCart and School-in-a-Bag programs.
Smart TechnoCart, which is deployed to public schools in places with electricity, is a 2×2 ft mobile laboratory containing 20 tablets, laptop, projector, and mobile Wi-Fi with starter load for the teacher.
School-in-a-Bag, which is donated to those without electricity, is a backpack with a solar panel, laptop, five tablets, mobile phone, pocket Wi-Fi with starter load, LED TV, and learning modules.
According to a public school teacher from Cebu City named Teacher Bernadette who handles kindergarten, their students, most of whom are street children, have improved their learning because of TechnoCart.
?Learning techniques are no longer limited to actual teachers? instructions or the paper and pencil type of studying. There?s the tablet now from which they can learn as well,? said Teacher Bernadette during the launch. ?Our students are more excited now to go to school because of TechnoCart.?
TechnoCarts have been donated to 40 schools while School-in-a-Bag units have been donated to 18 schools all over the country courtesy of individual and corporate sponsors.
