Philippine School Holds Cyber Graduation For Sixth-Grade Students

• A school in the Philippines has used robots for their graduation ceremony to comply with social distancing orders.
• Only teachers and administrators were present in the venue while the students and their families watched online via Facebook Live.

A school in the Philippines turned to modern technology to solve a dilemma brought by the coronavirus pandemic. Apparently, they can’t give their sixth graders a proper graduation ceremony because they need to observe social distancing measures. So they used remote-controlled robots instead!

Staff members of the Senator Renato “Compañero” Cayetano Memorial Science and Technology High School (SRCC) in Taguig, Manila got themselves busy to prepare for a one-of-a-kind graduation for their students.

Held last May 29, the school used four robots as proxies for the graduating students.

Aside from the SRCC staff, officials from the city government and the education department were also in attendance at the SRCC auditorium.

The event was streamed online through Facebook Live.

In his message, Mayor Lino Cayetano said that the students’ safety is their biggest priority during the crisis but they won’t let that stop everything.

He emphasized:

“We know how deeply symbolic a graduation ceremony is for graduates and their parents … this is why we came up with a program that can help them celebrate their accomplishment while respecting health standards and policies during the COVID-19 community quarantine.”

Meanwhile, Dr George Tizon, head of Taguig City Education, said:

“And this is why they decided to use technology in helping these students celebrate their accomplishment while respecting minimum health standards and without breaking policies that prohibit mass gatherings.”

179 sixth-graders graduated and only several people were allowed in the venue.

The students and their family members watched the event from the comfort of their own homes.

According to reports, the award-winning Taguig Robotics Team built the robots from recycled materials.

Watch the video report here: