ENERGY READY STUDENTS: DOE-Consumer Welfare and Promotion Office staff led by Helen B. Arias with Engr. Arlyn Joy R. Pestana and Engr. Pia Louren C. Gatinga from the DOE-Energy Resource Development Bureau; Engr. Eduardo B. Fernandez of the DOE-Electric Power Industry Management Bureau and Engr. Martha Isabel S. Dealino and Engr. Katrina Mae S. Royo from the Manila Electric Company as guest resource persons pose after the ENEReady: A Career Talk on Breaking Gender Stereotypes in the Energy Workforce last 24 November in Fort Bonifacio High School, Makati City.
(Taguig City). As part of its mission to empower energy consumers, the Department of Energy (DOE) headed by Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi enjoins the academe to inculcate the value of energy saving to their students.
“We are here to guide our younger generation who will be the ones running not only the energy sector, but the nation as well,” Cusi said.
“Supplementing the learning process of the students by exposing them to a real-world working environment helps arouse their interest and unleashes their potentials to become future scientists, engineers or energy experts,” Cusi explained.
In the second half of 2016 alone, the DOE’s Consumer Welfare and Promotion Office (CWPO) facilitated the conduct of 11 half-day consumer workshops dubbed as EnerSmart Kids Program and EnerREADY Project attended by various students in Metro Manila.
For the EnerSmart Kids Program, a total of 200 Grades 4, 5 & 6 from South CEMBO, Pitogo, San Jose, and Nemesio Yabut Elementary Schools in Makati City attended lectures and performed Science experiments at the DOE Central Office in Taguig City.
The sessions were capped by the kids’ “Pledge of Commitment” to be “Energy Cost Busters” by practicing energy efficiency and conservation measures in their own homes.
Among those who participated in the DOE program were students from the College of Computer Engineering & Communication and Engineering, STI Global City; College of Technology students and senior high school students from the University of Makati and Electrical Engineering students from the Technological University of the Philippines, Taguig Campus.
More than 200 students were given an overview of the electricity supply chain, including fundamental electricity concepts and a laboratory tour at the DOE-Lighting and Appliance Testing Laboratory.
Meanwhile, as part of the agency’s efforts to mainstream Gender and Development (GAD) in the energy sector programs, activities, and projects, the EnerREADY Project was pursued by the DOE-CWPO on-site in the following schools in Taguig and Makati City: Bangkal High School, Fort Bonifacio High School, Bagumbayan National High School and Gen. Pio del Pilar National High School.
EnerREADY is a Career Talk that aims to promote gender equality in the energy sector, encouraging young students to pursue technical careers based on their interest, passion, and strength in technical subjects and not on gender stereotyping as to the roles of women and men as perceived or dictated by society.
More than 400 Grade 10 pupils benefited from this activity through interactive and experiential learning with the female energy experts who shared their actual experiences, including the challenges they hurdled in order to achieve their career goals.
With the continuing Consumer Education Program of the CWPO, public elementary, high school, and college institutions interested in visiting the agency located at the Energy Center, Rizal Drive cor. 34th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila, can get in touch with Ms. Helen B. Arias, Chief of the CWPO at telefax no. ? (02) 840-22-67 or trunkline no. ?479-2900 local 329; email at energycwpo@gmail.com.
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