Paradise Farms High School rises from ashes, crafts own luck

It is common for us to hear the saying “dapat hindi tanggihan ang grasya,” referring to how one should never refuse good fortune bestowed by others. How can this case be, especially if this free gift strings along with it a series of unexpected misfortunes?

Despite enjoying the luck to be part of the forty pilot schools blessed with a computer lab by CICT’s iSchools Project, Paradise Farms National High School (PFNHS) in Bulacan experienced its fair share of setbacks.

Plans to situate the lab in an accessible part of the school turned to naught as a fire tore through the building, particularly gutting the room intended for the lab. Thus, the schedule had to be pushed back a few months later, giving the school time to recover from the tragedy.

The actual installation was marked by problems as well. Out of the 21 units to be installed, the school found one unit with a defective hard disk, rendering it unusable. Replacement was promised but never came.

Despite this, PFNHS made the most out the limited resources they had.

The school persevered.

Teachers organized a funding activity for a printer which the students could now use to print out their reports. They have also begun looking into fully integrating ICT into their curriculum.

These serve as testament to the fact that PFNHS remains unfazed by the misfortune that has beset them. Truly, they took the adage to heart and took it one step further – their resourcefulness allowed them to craft their own good fortune and look forward to a better ICT-enhanced future.

Double Duty

Paradise National High School's computer lab is a flurry of activity as it serves a dual purpose. Aside from being a computer lab, the room serves as a temporary stockroom for the boxes of textbooks to be distributed at the beginning of every school year.

Inactive computer lab turned into school’s stockroom

An inactive computer lab welcomed iSchool's Monitoring team as it inspected Paradise Farms National High School (PFNHS) in the City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan on June 25, 2008.

iSchool’s visit caught PFNHS by surprise as boxes containing textbooks were found stacked inside the lab.

iSchool representative Ms. Jocelyn Flores noted that “the implementation of the PC lab is not as expected, seem(s) like inactive use because (it) became stockroom for other items not given by CICT.”

The school’s principal, Ms. Violeta de Leon, however, clarified that since the lab was considered the most secure room in the whole school, it would likewise serve as the best storage area for the books for the meantime.

The iSchools project stipulated that the lab must be equipped with grills and locks for the windows and doors, thereby confirming Ms. de Leon’s assertions.

PNHS is one of the 40 recipients of the pilot implementation of the iSchools project.