Friday, April 28, 2006

Zamboanga Journal Signs Up With E-World Career Center To Provide Scholarship For Journalists


ZAMBOANGA CITY -- The online newspaper Zamboanga Journal has entered into a memorandum of understanding Friday with the E-World Career Center Corporation to provide scholarship grants to local journalists.

At least 5 journalists from different newspapers and radio and television stations would be given short courses training every month from the basic computer operation to the more advanced Macromedia Dream weaver and other related education.

"This is more of a partnership between the Zamboanga Journal and E-World Career Center Corporation to help our journalists be more literate in computer education and competitive in their field."

"We are trying to provide fellow journalists free access to computer education through this partnership with E-World Career Center Corporation. This is public service," said Al Jacinto, editor-in-chief of Zamboanga Journal, now on its fourth month.

At least 60 journalists are expected to benefit from the scholarship grants during the first year of the trainings. E-World is one of Zamboanga City's leading global providers of computer education.

"We look forward to provide our students with the best computer training education, and we are proud to be a partner of the Zamboanga Journal," said Juvy de Jesus, E-World center manager.

De Jesus said E-World offers a variety of short courses training designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills in Information Technology. "Our courses are also intended for corporate clients who have specialized training needs. We can customize any specific requirements for our clients or companies," she said.

Jacinto said the scholarship grants are also open to deserving high school students, who wanted to learn, but cannot afford to pay the cost of the training. "We will help not only deserving journalists, but students as well, those who really wanted to learn," he said.

Zamboanga Journal came about at first, just as a public service weblog after a photo session in December 24, 2005 in Lumbangan, a small village east of Zamboanga City, where the government garbage depot is located.

There were children, old men and women, digging through a mountain of garbage and picking up pieces of rotten vegetables and meat already covered with maggots. Help never came, not even from local politicians.

From a public service weblog, it soon became the online newspaper called the Zamboanga Journal, and friends and journalists from different parts of Mindanao and Manila have pledged to help it run and turn the Zamboanga Journal into a tool to help the less fortunate, particularly the children and old people in Lumbangan garbage dump, and other slum communities in Zamboanga City.
Zamboanga Journal is now accepting applicants for 5 slots to the week-long short courses on computer education in Zamboanga City. Classes begin every month and participants will be given certificates of training.

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