The Philippine Association for Media and Information Literacy (PAMIL) pledged to collaborate with the DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute (DOST-STII) in strengthening the S&T information in the country during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) held at the DOST-STII building in Taguig City, on 09 October 2023.
The partnership aims to support DOST-STII’s advocacy as the information and marketing arm of the DOST, wherein PAMIL shall provide support in jointly strengthening the S&T information sharing and generation by making it more understandable and accessible to the public.
“I am very happy that we could be able to bridge the gap to teach Filipino citizens exactly what is the right S&T information and how to understand it properly. It is our goal to be able to communicate your aims, your information in a more understandable manner, basically bringing it down to primary and secondary levels,” underscored PAMIL President Richelle Sy-Kho.
Sy-Kho said that people perceive science and technology as difficult to understand since it often involves complex concepts and ideas. With this, PAMIL intends to provide support to help more people promote and embrace S&T information as part of the people’s daily lives.
Meanwhile, DOST-STII Director Richard P. Burgos said that this partnership with PAMIL will help the institution expand its network, especially by promoting media and information literacy (MIL) with the DOST-STII clients and stakeholders.
“If we communicate and we’re good at it, then everybody will acknowledge us. This leads to more recognition in our works, more participation in our programs, and more students will enter STEM courses,” Director Burgos affirmed.
According to the director, the DOST-STII has more than 80 partners already composed of different agencies, organizations, SUCs, etc., that provide resources, donations, technical expertise, and networks to help the institution achieve its mandates of maintaining a S&T library, disseminating S&T information, and capacitating science communicators through trainings in the hope to establish a strong culture of science in the Philippines.
By Rhea Mae B. Ruba, DOST-STYII, DOST Media Service