General Santos City ─ Fifty-four students from different colleges of the Mindanao State University (MSU) and some of its faculty members expressed their firm support towards achieving agricultural productivity through responsible campus journalism following a three-day training on news and feature writing, broadcasting, and desktop publishing.
The training, dubbed as Saka Iskwela, was sponsored by the Alyansa ng mga Grupong Haligi ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Mamamayan (AGHAM) Party List and conducted by staffers of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD). It was held at the MSU Graduate School Building on August 17-19.
The training underscored the need for the thousands of campus newsletters in the Philippines to contribute to the diffusion of productive and worthwhile technologies, particularly for the agriculture, forestry, and natural resources (AFNR) sectors, by devoting a space in their respective newsletters for this concern.
Signifying their assurance towards achieving productive agriculture through responsible campus journalism, each of the MSU students and faculty staff members who participated in the training signed on a tarpaulin bearing this commitment.
Dr. Domingo M. Non, MSU Dean for Graduate Studies, received the pledge of commitment on behalf of University Chancellor Atty. Abdurrhaman T. Canacan.
The Saka Iskwela was inspired by the Campus Journalism Act of 1991. The Act provides for the development and promotion of campus journalism as a means of strengthening ethical values, encouraging critical and creative thinking, and developing moral character and personal discipline of the Filipino youth.
Lodged on a common technology diffusion strategy, the Saka Iskwela Program, which was initiated by PCAARRD in 2007, will also have two other similar trainings at the Bicol University in Legazpi City on September 13-15; and at the University of Southern Mindanao in Kabacan, North Cotabato on September 21-23.
Saka Iskwela trainings in the past were conducted at the Benguet State University in La Trinidad, Benguet; Central Mindanao University in Musuan, Bukidnon; and Aklan State University in Banga, Aklan.
Graduates of the Saka Iskwela trainings contributed to the dissemination of productive agricultural technologies in their respective localities through their school newsletters.