Philippines’ new blockchain builder program is helping young developers in remote provinces train to write blockchains blockchain Code and ship your project on-chain.
Students in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan, a long and sparsely populated island province isolated in the west of the Philippines, spent several weeks learning something completely new. It’s open source Move. smart contract The language was originally developed from Meta’s Diem project, but has now been adapted by former developers who built Sui and Aptos.
The initiative, dubbed the Sui Builder Program, offers a skills-based, results-oriented path in contrast to the escape economy that many young Filipinos have relied on as systemic inequality widens and formal opportunities narrow.
“What this opportunity has given us is a change in our mindset that we should think more and dream bigger,” Nicolo dela Rosa, a third-year computer science student at Palawan State University, said Friday on stage at the YGG Play Summit, the largest player-centric Web3 gaming event held annually in Manila.
His team, The Scouts, won a hackathon as part of the Create Campfire program. Campfire is an on-chain app that digitizes certificates and community assets and allows users to earn badges for attending events. His co-developer JK Rabanal described it as “gamified Luma on Sui,” referring to the popular app at crypto industry events.
When asked why Move is a good starting point for new developers far from major technology hubs, James Wing, head of AAA gaming partnerships at Mysten Labs, developer of the Sui blockchain, said: decryption This programming language “enables an object-oriented model,” which is a “more natural architecture for learning and building real-world use cases.”
This effort was supported through the Palawan Regional Office of the National Information and Communications Technology Agency of the Government of the Philippines. We opened a training hub and provided computer labs, internet access, and regional coordination.
Through its education division, Metaversity, Yield Guild Games helped design and implement the curriculum, teach, and handle connections to job and project opportunities.
A total of 127 students participated, but only 50 were able to complete the program as the final weeks of instruction were interrupted by two consecutive typhoons earlier this month.
talk to decryption Bianca Cruz, co-chair of Metaversity, spoke at the site two days before the statistics were released on Friday. decryption The atmosphere in Palawan was much slower and laid back, but the students were eager to learn.
Cruz recounted how a student told her that such programs were “rare” in Palawan.
“I feel like they don’t have a lot of access to these developer communities, but the moment something finally drops in their backyard, they show up, even if it means giving up a long commute or a weekend,” Cruz said.
still late
But while the program’s focus on training ready developers is consistent with the government’s goal of creating 8 million digital jobs by 2028, it also reflects the country’s education system, which has traditionally prioritized employability over core competencies.
A 2018 analysis found that Filipino students rank near the bottom of the world in reading, math, and science, with a large fraction of test takers falling short of minimum proficiency levels.
Years later, the pattern continues. The 2022 OECD report says scores have improved but remain among the lowest in the world, showing long-standing gaps in baseline comprehension, numeracy and critical reasoning. The country still lacks basic digital literacy, according to a 2022 World Bank study.
This is because national education spending has historically remained low at 3.6% of GDP by 2024, below the regional standard of 4% based on UNESCO recommendations.
The country’s Budget Management Agency claimed in August that next year’s budget allocation had reached its lowest level of 4%.
Paolo Lising, a global development student at Harvard University Extension School, said the initiative gives Filipino students “exposure to advanced digital skills” and shows a “commitment to a future-ready workforce that goes beyond traditional BPO roles.” decryption.
But “access alone is not enough,” Rising points out. “Like those who participated in Axie Infinity, many Filipinos lack basic literacy and comprehension skills, limiting their ability to navigate complex digital systems,” he said, adding that the upcoming study is part of the coursework.
“For programs like this to have a lasting impact, they need to be combined with stronger basic education,” he added.
