By Erwin Nicavera/PNA

BACOLOD CITY — The Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center (NOLITC) has been recognized as one of the country’s three outstanding Technology for Education, Employment, Entrepreneurial, and Economic Development (Tech4Ed) Centers and has also been awarded as the Center for Excellence for 2018.
The recognitions were given by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) during the National Tech4Ed Awards 2018 rites held at the Royal Mandaya Hotel in Davao City on Thursday.
Ma. Cristina Orbecido, vocational school administrator of the Bacolod-based NOLITC, who received the two awards from DICT Secretary Eliseo Rio, said she credits the center’s innovation and other best practices for the awards.
“These recognitions are a testament of the continuous effort to sustain the innovation of our Tech4Ed Center to deliver efficient and effective services to all our clients,” she said.
Orbecido said the provincial government-run center has made a social impact in terms of the many beneficiaries it has served and has also introduced new programs like the shared facility for visual graphic design this year, following the incubation hub for medical transcription in 2017.
She added that NOLITC has a unique strategy of embedding its training programs with that of Tech4Ed.
This practice has resulted in positive social impact especially in boosting employment in the community, Orbecido said.
NOLITC, one of the three winners for outstanding center, was among the 25 nominees shortlisted from about 2,000 Tech4Ed Centers nationwide.
In 2017, it was recognized as emerging Tech4Ed Center and second top performing center in the country for the local government unit category.
The outstanding category covers at least three-year old Tech4Ed centers while those established for two years and below fall under the emerging category.
The criteria mainly comprised of socio-economic impact, innovation, productivity, and partnership and networking.
It is given to a Tech4Ed Center which has exemplary performance and contribution to the growth of the community and the Filipino people through the innovative and highly-effective utilization of ICT programs.
The Center for Excellence award, meanwhile, is given to the center for achieving a consistent exemplary level in delivering sustainable ICT-enabled services, earning the distinction of being a component for positive change, and for exhibiting commendable impact in the growth and development of the community it serves through the center.