DOLE launches K-Ito Program in Batanes
by PGO (2009-11-25)

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has formally launched their Kabataan I.T. Opportunities or K-Ito project in partnership with the provincial government and other local government units in a simple program held in the Human Resource Training Center (HRTC) on November 19, 2009.

The K-Ito Program aims to give opportunities to the youths who are unemployed or underemployed by encouraging those with computer skills to render voluntary service teaching computer literacy with a modest stipend.

The program will be implemented by batches. Each batch would have ten mentors-five from the provincial government and another five from LGU Basco. Every mentor shall teach a group of eight on the basic computer skills for 22 hours and shall be paid for an hourly rate of 25 pesos.

There is no age limit for enrollees or participants who may wish to avail the free computer literacy lessons. The program would also provide assistance to walk-in clients especially government employees who wish to access government websites.

Basco mayor Demetrius Paul C. Narag believes the program would be a big help in keeping abreast with the complexity of the computer age.

"This is a way for government to call the youth to be their partners in their programs for development. In this program, we are not using government people to implement the program but the youth. Minsan kasi kontrabida ang tingin ng kabtaan sa gobyerno. This is simply bringing the government closer to the people," Narag said.

Theresa T. Ronquillo, DOLE senior employment officer, exhorts the youth to be agents and partners for development at the same time encourages parents, students, employees and out of school youths to grab the opportunity of having free computer lessons.

"Not everyone has the resources to hire a tutor or enroll in a computer course. And there is a slim chance for job applicants to be employed if they are not computer literate. Knowledge in computer operations would be a big help for an applicant to het hired for a job," Ronquillo added.

The initial batch for the program is expected to complete the lessons before December 14 in time for the evaluation. Among those who attended the program and MOA signing are provincial planning and development officer Rolando B. Ventolero, Mayor Demetrius Narag of LGU Basco, DOLE provincial officer Robert Castilejos, the PESO officers from the different municipalities, and Elizabeth Martinez and Theresa Ronquillo, both from DOLE Region 02.

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