DepEd, Microsoft partner for virtual graduation program

The Department of Education (DepEd), in partnership with Microsoft, will hold virtual graduations as the Philippines continues to suspend classes and social gatherings on academic institutions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Powered by Microsoft 365, the #Hello2020Graduates program gives schools access to desktop productivity apps such as Office, intelligent cloud services, and secured communication software. Schools will be able to host the graduation ceremonies through Microsoft Teams’ Live Event feature that allows a maximum of 10,000 participants. This allows the students’ family members who are abroad, or in other parts of the Philippines, to watch the ceremony online.

The virtual graduation solution requires minimum internet connectivity and comes with a DepEd-approved technical guide and manual, following the standard flow on graduations. This includes the marching of students, the delivery of honor students’ speeches, and even special DepEd representatives and school administrators’ farewell addresses.

The program had its pilot run in the following schools last May 13, 2020: Ruparan National High School in Digos City, Cornelio Reta Sr. Elementary School in Davao City, and Panabo National High School in Panabo City. As of this writing, a total of 1,462 students from 8 different schools in Region 11 celebrated their graduation virtually.

It is now available to all public and private schools across the Philippines.

The Department of Education and Microsoft have worked closely in the previous months to enable remote learning for schools nationwide.