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Docomo gives $200K worth of laptops to PSS
Docomo Pacific CNMI general manager and vice president Dino Manning poses with Public School associate commissioner Yvonne Pangelinan and Kagman High School students and staff last Friday. (Erwin Encinares)
A telecommunications company in the Commonwealth gave the Public School System about $200,000 over the weekend that will be used to provide PSS libraries with laptops.
Docomo Pacific CNMI donated the funds to support PSS’ 21st Century Library Initiative. The money will be used to provide 10 laptops to each of all 20 PSS libraries in the CNMI.
“I [believe] it was a good fit,” said Docomo Pacific CNMI general manager and vice president Dino Manning.
He said this is because Docomo Pacific is a technology company and the donation ensures that it will not only support PSS but also makes sure that the funding is aligned with what Docomo Pacific does.
Yvonne Pangelinan, PSS associate commissioner for student and support services, noted that the collaboration with Docomo Pacific CNMI involved talks that lasted about a year.
“We explored increasing bandwidth, we explored e-books to increase the library but, in the end, with the feedback of the school librarians, we came up with an infusion of technology so that our students would be able to have more technology in their library as resources,” said Pangelinan.
The donation was coupled with a media event at the Kagman High School, where school principal Leila Staffler noted that the laptops will provide access to the whole world for those who have not left the islands.
“Through the internet and through the services that this entire company provides…for some students who may have never even left the island, it gives them a window to spaces that they might not get a chance to see in person,” she said.
This could pique a student’s curiosity and push them to venture out and “go further than they are at this moment,” Staffler said. “It also allows them to stay connected to their roots and their home.”
