Three junior high school students from the Philippine Science High School-Caraga have launched Ligtas Skwela, a digital platform designed to enhance student safety during emergencies such as fires and earthquakes.
The platform won first place at the Startup Technology Pitching Competition during the Department of Science and Technology’s Regional Science, Technology, and Innovation Week in Caraga, held from August 27 to 29.
The team, composed of project leader Kush Shekar, software developer Lorenzo Pariñas, and market research head Vic Andrei Hernando, created Ligtas Skwela to address the challenges schools face in tracking student safety during crises.
We’ve noticed that sometimes, in the system, they tend to not focus on the students and where they are in school.
Lorenzo Pariñas, Software Developer
Ligtas Skwela features two main interfaces: Teacher Mode, which allows teachers to report classroom conditions, and Commander Mode, enabling administrators to monitor classroom statuses and track student locations.
- Tracks students by name for precise accountability.
- Plans to incorporate hardware like buttons for drills and alarms.
The prototype is currently functional but has only been tested within their own school. Future updates aim to include an offline version and additional hardware integration.
The team plans to offer Ligtas Skwela via a subscription model, estimated to cost P30,000 annually for schools with 1,000 students, translating to about P30 per student.
With a growing emphasis on school safety, particularly in light of recent incidents, innovations like Ligtas Skwela could become essential tools for educational institutions across the Philippines.