Recognizing the importance of education in the country’s growth, Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, focuses on efforts to improve learning and employment opportunities through Brigada Eskwela, Spark Scholarship Program, and Go Green in the City.
Driven to transform its employees into community advocates, Schneider Electric encourages them to take part in its 15,000 volunteering days—a worldwide campaign that it hopes to accomplish by 2025.
Locally, the company took part in the Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela 2019 program as part of this movement.
More than 40 employee volunteers from the Taguig and Ortigas sites went to Signal Village National High School where they repainted some of the school facilities. In Cavite, over 100 employee volunteers went to Emiliano Tria Tirona High School in Kawit and assisted in preparing the school for the coming school year.
They also participated in greening the school, in anticipation of the global environment day and Philippine Environment Month.
“Schneider Electric has always been driven by our commitment to enriching the lives of the communities we are a part of. Brigada Eskwela, in particular, is special to me because we got to mingle with the teachers, even some of the incoming students. Hearing their stories and their dreams, it inspires us to continue our efforts to improve the educational system here in the Philippines, creating a brighter future for the Filipino Youth,” said Schneider Electric Philippines president Alexandre Vermot.
Meanwhile, the company also launched its scholarship initiative, Spark Program.
The program is uniquely structured to prepare the scholar-interns as potential digital talents by being part of automation project teams. They are given mentorship from regional digital SMEs as well as from plant/local digital leaders.
Graduates of the program will automatically gain employment opportunities at Schneider Electric.
College students taking up courses such as Data Engineering, Computer Engineering, Industrial and Automation Engineering, Robotics, Applied Mathematics, and the like are welcome to apply for the program.
Finally, Go Green in the City aims to involve Filipino students to contribute to the search for solutions to the global energy challenge while allowing them to learn from industry leaders and experts. It is also an avenue for women empowerment as each participating team must have at least one female student.
This year, students submitted their bold ideas based on the following categories: “Buildings of the Future,” “Plants of the Future,” “Grids of the Future,” and “Sustainability and Access to Energy.”
The students were invited to share ideas to reshape the future and show a more effective side of sustainability: the connection of the social and environmental impacts of technology and the business world.
The top contenders presented their winning projects in the Go Green in the City 2019 Country Finals on July 12. The winning team will be mentored by Schneider Electric experts in preparation for the regional and global legs of the competition where they will be representing the Philippines and hopefully, the entire Asia Pacific region.
“By spearheading and taking part in all these educational initiatives, we are reaching more youth, granting them more opportunities to explore, and enabling them to be a part of our mission to transform cities and reshape industries through the digital transformation of energy management and automation,” enthused Vermot.