The National Basketball Association and Smart Communications, Inc. have partnered for the latter’s flagship program, School-in-a-Bag.
The partnership was announced on Friday and has the groups pushing for the program, which is designed to provide digital tools and content to support distance learning in public schools and communities across the Philippines.
Through NBA Cares, the league’s global social responsibility program, the NBA and Smart will assemble and distribute School-in-a-Bag packages to 20 schools across 16 cities and provinces in Luzon (Batanes, Benguet, Bulacan, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Nueva Ecija, Palawan, Pampanga, Pangasinan and Romblon), Visayas (Biliran and Siquijor) and Mindanao (Agusan del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Surigao del Norte and Zamboanga del Norte).
The National Basketball Association and Smart Communications, Inc. have partnered for the latter’s flagship program, School-in-a-Bag.
Each package will include a Smart LTE Pocket WiFi, laptop and tablets, both of which will have preinstalled educational content including Smart’s proprietary #LearnSmart apps, featuring alphabet and number exercises, short stories, and games in native languages and dialects. The bags will also feature NBA-branded baller bands and notebooks.
“Education in the Philippines has changed dramatically as schools across the country continue engaging with students remotely,” said NBA Asia Managing Director Scott Levy at the partnership’s announcement. “Through NBA Cares, we’re proud to support our valued partner Smart and their School-in-a-Bag program, which delivers an innovative and sustainable approach to enhancing the distance learning experience for Filipino youth.”
“The Smart School-in-a-Bag is our way to provide students and teachers access to the wealth of knowledge through digital learning tools, so that no learner is left behind,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, President and CEO of Smart. “Our collaboration with the NBA allows us to give more children in remote communities more opportunities to pursue their passion and purpose, and a fighting chance for a better future.”
The program is also in line with Smart and its partners’ commitment to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, particularly providing access to quality education in the country.
The collaboration builds on Smart and the NBA’s existing partnership in the Philippines to operate NBA.com/Philippines (the official online NBA destination in the Philippines), distribute NBA League Pass (the league’s premium live game subscription service), and livestream NBA TV Philippines (a localized version of NBA TV – the league’s dedicated 24/7 channel) through its newly launched video streaming app, GigaPlay.