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PTRI-Designed Portable therapeutic handlooms turned over to ST. Francis school-VSA Arts for special needs student

Thursday, May 11, 2017 11:02 PM    Views : 1308by:Lorraine M. Cueva

QUEZON CITY, Metro Manila — The Philippine Textile Research Institute (DOST-PTRI), in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology-National Capital Region (DOST-NCR), officially turned over ten (10) portable therapeutic handlooms to St. Francis School-VSA Arts Philippines for special needs students. The ceremony was held at VSA Arts, Quezon City last May 4, 2017.

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Father Hozo Sato, together with the VIP guests, officiated the ribbon cutting ceremonies of the event

As part of its mandate to undertake transfer of completed researches and technologies to end-users, PTRI designed and developed a handloom that allows differently-abled individuals, especially paraplegics, to engage in urban handloom weaving as a means of developing their physical, mental, and social abilities.

The Portable Therapeutic Handloom features a hand-held lever that takes the place of pedals, to facilitate the interchange of harnesses during weaving of yarns. With this strategic mechanism, the handloom will now only require eye-hand coordination, streamlining the handweaving process.

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Two (2) of the students from St. Francis School - VSA Arts show the guests how they weave using the therapeutic handloom machine

This PTRI-designed technology is envisioned to aid the productivity of St. Francis School-VSA Arts students, as they design and create their own fabrics. Many of their outputs are developed into apparel, accessories, and other merchandise. Through this project, PTRI and DOST-NCR hope to empower them with livelihood opportunities, apart from therapeutic rehabilitation.

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Some of the students from St. Francis School - VSA Arts during the Turnover Ceremony fashion show

Established in 1996 with the assistance of Japan, St. Francis School-VSA Arts specializes on special-needs education through various approaches—particularly speech and language development. Their K-12 curriculum is enhanced with extra-curricular activities, such as dancing, martial arts, acting, and urban weaving; providing their students other avenues of learning and expression.

Their urban weaving program highlights saori, the Japanese art of handweaving that focuses on unique, freestyle designs, made by the school's special needs students. Its premise is to provide them with creative therapeutic expression; the more mistakes, the better.

Rebecca Santos, Executive Director of St. Francis School-VSA Arts, had earlier lamented that acquiring new handlooms were expensive, and the current model proved to be a challenge for their students. This prompted DOST-NCR to collaborate with PTRI to transfer the PTRI-designed technology; and the project was made possible through support and financial aid from the agencies. Prior to the event, a five-day training was conducted for the teachers and students of the school to familiarize themselves with the portable therapeutic handloom as they prepared for it to be their own.

Rebecca Santos was joined by Father Hozo Sato for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, together with Dr. Sujin Sawang from Thailand; Rizalio Sanchez, Chief Information Officer of the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA); Jose B. Patalinjug III, Regional Director of DOST-NCR; and Celia B. Elumba, Director IV of PTRI.

 

 

 

 

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PTRI Director Celia B. Elumba giving her inspiring message to the guests

"We are looking at the possibility of having handloom weaving as a means of livelihood, opportunity, and as a means of giving pure joy. And I think that you cannot put a price to that; the ten handlooms we provided are a small sum. We should be able to replicate and produce this in many parts of our country—that will be a challenge for us at DOST," says PTRI Director Celia B. Elumba.In closing, she recommends to "include this as part of the K-12 program because I truly believe that if you can have your children have a better sense of what it is to hand weave, then they can have a better sense of what it is to be part of a bigger community of thousands of handloom weavers all over the country. This is going to give them more opportunity, and more analytical, logical, and practical skills."

Source:http://www.ptri.dost.gov.ph/2-uncategorised/200-portable-therapeutic-handlooms-turned-over

S & T Trivia

" Camilo M. Tabalba, a Filipino engineer, headed a team to make the telephone electronic in 1970. By 1975, he published his findings, including the development of the dynamic transducer (a transmission circuit replacing the carbon transmitter). His work helped in the development of the modern Touchtone phone. "

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