NIA-UPRIIS executives turn over to Dep-Ed Cabanatuan officials IEC materials on irrigation systems along with boxes of bond paper and computer ink. Contributed photos.
CABANATUAN CITY – Some public elementary schools here received materials for producing modules from the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation System, five days before the opening of classes amid the fight against the coronavirus disease.
The National Irrigation Administration–UPRRIS provided reams of bond paper and a set of computer ink in the production of student modules for each of ten schools here.
The donation though came with valuable add–ons.
Engr. Rosalinda B. Bote, department manager of NIA–UPRIIS, said they also delivered information, education and communication materials regarding NIA and irrigation system to the Department of Education-Cabanatuan City.
Bote said UPRIIS re-established partnership withDepEd–Cabanatuan City under their corporate social responsibility to strengthen the “foundation of knowledge sharing for the younger generation,” on Wednesday, Sept. 30.
This, she said, forms part of the agency’s Knowledge Management ISO (International Organization for Standardization) Core Team activity.
Officials of Cabanatuan City Schools Division Office headed by superintendent Teresa D. Mababa received the IEC materials and supplies for recipients namelyValle Cru, ACA, Pagas, Calagundian, Mayapyap, Bakod Bayan, Caudillo, Sto. Niño, Bakero, and Macatbong elementary schools.
Aside from Bote, the other UPRIIS officials who joined the event were engineering and operations division manager Vivencia C. dela Cruz, administrative and finance division manager Milca B. Cayanga, institutional development section chief Gloria Loren R. Hipolito and some support staff.
Bote underscored the importance of this linkage and the promotion of irrigated agriculture to the younger generation.
“We all have seen the important role played by our farmers in food security during the Covid-19 situation. Karamihan sa kanila ay matatanda na at kailangan ding may magpatuloy ng kanilang gawain sa pagsasaka,” she said.
Mababa, on the other hand, expressed gratitude to this linkage program of UPRIIS for choosing DepEd-Cabanatuan also, as its recipient.
She also offered the integration of NIA’s advocacy in the promotion of irrigation in their academic program, by incorporating the IEC materials, like flyers and video of NIA–UPRIIS in their teaching curriculum.
This linkage with the DepEd is part of the directive of NIA administrator Ricardo R. Visaya in the promotion of NIA’s efforts in irrigation development, while stirring the interest of the students in irrigated agriculture.
Several IEC programs had been part of the information dissemination of UPRIIS in the past years like the Appropriate Reminders about Irrigation to our Educators and Learners of the Division III which started in 2012 and was relaunched in 2018 to support the linkage.
Also in 2018, an information drive on irrigation dams was conducted for high school students, particularly in Honorato C. Perez Sr. Memorial Science High School.
In 2019, an Orientation to Primary Educators and Learners was also carried out in all UPRIIS division offices which reached about 80 elementary schools not just in Cabanatuan, but also in Nueva Ecija and even in Bulacan.
Before the program ended, the Cabanatuan CitySchools Division Office presented Bote and Cayanga plaque of recognition and certificate of merit acknowledging NIA–UPRIIS as one of its most outstanding stakeholders.
