Taguig pilots 'cyber-graduation' ceremony

The city government of Taguig held Friday a "cyber graduation" ceremony using robots  which represented the graduates of the Senator Renato "Compañero" Cayetano Memorial Science and Technology High School (SRCC).

Mayor Lino Cayetano said the online graduation ceremony is part of the city's initiative of maintaining health protocols amid the threat of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

"We know how deeply symbolic a graduation ceremony is for graduates and their parents,” Cayetano said in a press release.

“This is why we came up with a program that can help them celebrate their accomplishment while respecting health standards and policies during the COVID-19 community quarantines," he added.

Taguig City's education head Dr. George Tizon echoed Cayetano, noting that the use of technology will help students celebrate their achievements in this time of quarantine.

The Taguig City government said four robots, made by the city's robotics team, represented the 179 graduates of the said academic institution.

Operated via a remote control, toga-wearing robots received the diplomas on behalf of the graduates while the live videos of the graduates were projected on the heads of the robots as their names were called.

Simultaneously, video footage of the graduates’ families was also displayed on the LED screen. The graduates watched the ceremony via Facebook live.

Cayetano said this kind of ceremony would also be done in the city's 24 public elementary and 12 public high schools.

Furthermore, Cayetano announced that the city government will also give cash incentives to the graduates.

Under the cash incentive program, a total of 12,931 Grade 6 graduates will receive P1,000 each while P1,500 each will be given to the 3,276 students graduating from Grade 12.

Aside from that, Top 1 students will receive P15,000 each while those who came in second will get P12,500. The rest of the Top 10 will receive P5,000 for Grade 6 graduates and P7,500 for Grade 12 graduates. —AOL, GMA News