KIBUNGAN, Benguet – School children here will now have access to more learning materials while local communities will have better livelihood opportunities through science and technology interventions from the Community Enhancement through Science and Technology (CEST) program of the Department of Science and Technology.
DOST Benguet Provincial S&T Center headed by Director Sheila Marie Claver turned over Starbooks and livelihood equipment to the beneficiaries last Oct. 29 at the municipal hall along with Vice Mayor Edwin Nitron.
Four Starbooks, a digital library developed by the DOST S&T Information Institute, were given to Kibungan Central School and the elementary schools of barangays Saddle, Lubo, and Palina.
One unit with a solar panel power source is also set for delivery to Macgao ES this second week of November.
For livelihood assistance, DOST provided two units of sugarcane presser with generator and three units of rice milling equipment. A coffee roaster was also turned over to the municipality last July.
To ensure ample safe drinking water, the DOST is also set to provide 121 ceramic water filters for Barangay Tacadang.
Kibungan is also a beneficiary of a P500,000 grant from DOST for the establishment of a radio communication system under disaster risk reduction and management.
Claver said CEST is DOST’s program to provide holistic science and technology interventions to vulnerable communities/municipalities through five entry points, namely health and nutrition, water and sanitation, basic education and literacy, and disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
Kibungan is the first CEST municipality in Benguet assisted by the DOST-CAR through the DOST-Benguet, with the geographically isolated and displaced areas of Badeo and Tacadang as priority barangays. “The CEST intervention is seen to benefit the whole municipality once all project deliverables are completed,” Claver said. – Carlito C. Dar
