The West Rembo Elementary School Robotics Team has received financial aid from Makati City Mayor Abby Binay as they compete in the 2024 VEX Robotics World Championship held from April 25 to May 3 in Dallas, Texas USA.

(Photo from Makati LGU)

Although the school is now under the jurisdiction of Taguig City, the team, composed of two Grade 5 and two Grade 6 students namely Rio Pauline Dames, Cassandra Elyze Cruz, Andrew Lijarso, and Zyric Abines, visited Binay at the City Hall to meet her personally and receive the aid.

“Even though West Rembo Elementary School is no longer part of Makati, I decided to help them using my personal funds so they have less to worry about and can focus on the competition. They bring pride to the nation and deserve our full support,” Binay said.

She explained that the parents of the students had earlier contacted her asking for support, telling her that the funds provided by the Taguig City government were not enough to cover the team’s expenses.

“I am saddened by the seeming lukewarm support shown by the Taguig local government to the West Rembo Robotics Team. It gives me reason to worry if Taguig will be able to maintain the level and quality of the Robotics program introduced by Makati,” the mayor stressed.

The Robotics Program was introduced in Makati public schools during school year 2007-2008.

During Mayor Abby’s first term, a new Robotics program was integrated into the curriculum for Grades 3 to 12 in the city’s public schools.

Developed by the city, together with Department of Education (DepEd) Makati, the Makati Robotics curriculum caters to a wide range of skill levels and is designed to hone students’ problem solving skills and develop their ability for critical thinking.

"For the past seven years, Makati has been providing public school students with age-appropriate Robotics kits suited to their development level. Entry-level kits featuring simplified designs and intuitive controls enabled them to start with simple skills like simple construction/building of robots and simple coding. For the more experienced users, advanced kits with sophisticated features and capabilities were provided, such as complex construction of robots and complex programming," the city government said.

Makati students also have the advantage of having a complete game field and game elements during practice and interschool competitions, making them more adaptable to competing at a broader scale.

Binay praised the team for their dedication and encouraged them to make the country proud. She also acknowledged the parents and coaches of the team for their unwavering support and guidance.

On Tuesday, April 23, the mayor also gave a warm sendoff to the four members of the Makatrix Robotics Team of Makati High School, the country’s lone public high school representative in the same competition. She gave P58,000 pocket money to the members of the team. All expenses including airfare and hotel accommodations have also been fully covered.

READ MORE: https://mb.com.ph/2024/4/24/makati-hs-robotics-team-goes-to-dallas-for-world-robotics-championship

Another award-winning EMBO school in the field of Robotics is Pitogo High School. Its Robotics Team “Thunderbolts” won in the Tagisang Robotics 2022 of the Department of Science and Technology.

The team was also proclaimed champion in the 1st Virtual Robotics Challenge-19th Philippine Robotics Olympiad in 2020.

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