Dr. Rodolfo V. Asanion, PSU President, represented by Dr. Victoriano C. Estira, the Vice-President for Administration and Planning, signed the Memorandum of Agreement for the STRIDE IV (Special Teachers’ Retraining via Internet Enhanced Distance Education) program with Mayor Atty. Domingo A. Doctor, Jr. and Mayor Atty. Gabriel E. Navarro, representing the municipalities of Burgos and Bani, respectively, last August 14, 2006. Dr. Alma Ruby C. Torio, Pangasinan I Division Schools Superintendent witnessed the momentous event held at the PSU-HRMTC Function Room.
 

The Executive Director, Dr. L.C. Buduhan (extreme left) with Mayor G.E. Navarro and Mayor D.A. Doctor of Bani and Burgos respectively, with Vice President for Administration & Planning Dr. V.C. Estira, and Dr. A.C. Torio, Schools Division Superintendent Pangasinan 1 during the formal signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between PSU and Municipalities of Bani and Burgos.  

The first STRIDE Program, launched at the PSU-Open University Systems, saw the participation of 38 teachers from Divisions of Pangasinan I and San Carlos City as pioneer participants. The Ferrer-Magsanoc Scholarship Program under the PSU Development Foundation, Inc. funded the participation of the pioneer participants. The Local Government Unit of Burgos, through the initiative of Mayor Atty. Domingo A. Doctor, Jr., funded the STRIDE II program with 31 teacher-scholars from municipality of Burgos as participants. The Local Government Unit of Dasol, through Mayor Angelita O. Jimenez, followed suit and had granted scholarship to 15 teachers who participated in the STRIDE III program.

The municipalities of Burgos and Bani, through Mayors Doctor and Navarro, respectively, joined hands to sponsor the fourth batch of STRIDE scholars – 8 teacher-scholars from Burgos and 10 teacher-scholars from Bani.

The present STRIDE scholars is the second batch of participants that Burgos Mayor Doctor has sponsored aside from the scholarship grants that he had provided for the STRIDE II graduates that enabled them to pursue and eventually complete their Master’s Degree in Education. The continuous support of Mayor Doctor is a clear manifestation of his genuine concern to upgrade the quality of education in his municipality. This concern is translated into the opportunities he gives the teachers, who are at the forefront as change agent, to continuously enrich and enhance their competencies and performance as teachers thereby ensuring a high quality of education.

STRIDE is a one-year Diploma Program that is intended to prepare teachers/administrators to manage and/or teach in the learning environment of the 21^st century characterized by the extensive use of information and communication technology in the delivery of teaching-learning systems. The program, therefore, is envisioned to respond to the teachers’ need to be competently prepared for technological innovations in education and for electronic-education in the Philippine setting.