Canva, DepEd partner to give free platform access, training for public school teachers

MANILA — Teachers under the Department of Education (DepEd) are set to receive free access and training on Canva for Education beginning November.

Education Sec. Sonny Angara has inked a partnership with Canva Philippines for the rollout of Canva for Education, in a bid to "bring digital design and creativity into Filipino classrooms and support teachers with user-friendly tools for more interactive learning”.

"The President himself said in his SONA that classrooms should be incubators of creativity and innovation. With this partnership, we’re building those incubators, one design at a time,” he said in a DepEd press release.

At the signing, Angara was joined by Her Excellency HK Yu PSM, FCPA (Aust), Australian Ambassador to the Philippines, Yani Hornilla-Donato, Canva Philippines country lead, and Maisie Littaua, marketing and content & discovery lead of Canva Philippines.

VISUAL COMMUNICATION

Canva is an Australian multinational software company known as a graphic design platform.

The DepEd explained that Canva for Education is an all-in-one visual communication platform that’s 100 percent free for all K-12 schools, teachers, and students.

"With it, teachers and students can access all the benefits of Canva’s premium features, empowering them to create, collaborate, and communicate visually," the agency said.

Ambassador Yu believes the partnership will "give our learners and educators the tools for 21st century learning".

"What I didn’t expect was how quickly it was going to happen under Secretary Angara’s leadership. It was literally only few months ago when he was first appointed that I called on him to emphasize how Australian government will continue to support in improving your education system,” she shared.

Hornilla-Donato, Canva Philippines country lead, underscored the impact of collaboration to teachers and learners, helping them embrace digital and design literacy.

“Visual communication is fast becoming a must-have skill in today’s workplace, and it’s time for classrooms in the Philippines to fully embrace the power of digital and design literacy. Through our partnership with DepEd, we’re empowering teachers and students with the tools and technology they need to spark creativity and collaboration. We’re so excited for DepEd’s support in this rollout, and we can’t wait to see how this empowers Filipino teachers and students nationwide,” Hornilla-Donato said.

Initially, under the phased rollout, select teachers and personnel of the DepEd central office will get the pilot training using Canva’s design platform using their official DepEd email.

This will then be rolled out to the 17 regions starting January 2025.

Canva for Education may be accessed for free by teachers and staff through www.canva.com using their DepEd email address. To know more about the initiative, please access the dedicated DepEd Resource Hub in Canva at http://canvaph.com/deped-resourcehub.