Pisay scholars develop AI-powered platform for managing school emergencies, win startup tech battle

From the DOST public archive. Original source publication date: 2026-09-01. Captured 2026-09-04. Read the original DOST source.

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Butuan City, Agusan del Norte—With the recent reports on shooting incidents and other emergencies like fire and earthquake at schools in various parts of the country, the security and safety of students has become an increasingly urgent concern.

In Caraga Region, a group of Junior High School students of the Philippines Science High School-Caraga campus developed a school emergency management platform called ‘Ligtas Skewela’, which aims to properly account for every student during an emergency.

This technology won first place among the nine finalists of the Startup Technology Pitching Competition—Student Category held in Butuan City, as part of the Regional Science, Technology and Innovation Week (RSTW) celebration in Caraga on August 27-29, 2026.

“With the recent happenings in Ateneo De Zamboanga or other school shootings or maybe earthquakes or fire, we've noticed that sometimes in the system, they tend to not focus on the students and where they are in school. And so, while we were worrying about that, we were trying to find a solution where students can be easily accessed and they can easily be found,” Lorenzo S. Parinas said.

Pariñas is in-charge of Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud storage of the system.

‘Ligtas Skwela’ is a subscription-based online platform for managing school emergencies like fire, earthquakes, and firearm-related incidents, trying to close the information gap between the teachers, responders, and the school administration.

While it is an online platform for now, the team said they are already working on making it also available offline.

“It is split into two modes. There is teacher mode and commander mode. In commander mode, you're able to see all the classrooms, all the teachers managing them and their status. So, if a room is secure or people in need of medical aid, you can see all kinds of status. There's also event logs where you can see what's happening,” Kush D. Shekar, ‘Ligtas Skwela’ project leader said.

Meanwhile, in ‘Teacher Mode’, the faculty will be able to access the system and report the status of its class.

According to Shekar, the platform tracks names and not headcounts, so the school admin will identify who is missing.

“Currently, the website is working, the platform is working, it’s all functional but we’ve only tested it so far in our campus. For now, we plan to expand it further since it’s still in the development stage”, Vic Andrei P. Hernando said. He is the market research head of the ‘Ligtas Skwela’.

Once ready for deployment, the subscription will cost P30,000 per 1,000 students per year, which works out to P30 per student annually, based on the current cost projection of the team.

“Our future plans include incorporating hardware into our platform. I think it will be way more useful to have buttons since it’s way easier to access to perform the drills and [trigger] the alarm”, Hernando said.

The team is also preparing to apply for a patent to secure ownership of the innovation.

Shekar, Pariñas, and Hernando were guided by their project mentor, Engr. Lyndon R. Bermoy.

“Of course, nagpapasalamat ako sa kanilang tatlo, for being the best students that they are  already. Pinractice ko silang mabuti sa pitching kasi first time nilang mag pitch, at first time nilang sumali sa ganito,” Bermoy said.

Shekar’s team is the only high school students who entered as the finalist of the technology pitching competition.

The finalists were judged based on relevance, originality, AI integration, business viability, impact, and prototype functionality.

The Regional Science, Technology, and Innovation Week (RSTW) is an annual event organized by the DOST regional offices across 17 regions. This celebration showcases local technologies, research and development (R&D) projects, and innovative initiatives that connect communities, local industries, and stakeholders with science-based solutions. These efforts promote inclusive, sustainable, and resilient development in the region. The RSTW is one of the major scientific events leading up to the National Science, Technology, and Innovation Week (NSTW) celebration, which will be held in General Santos City in November. For more information, visit www.dost.gov.ph or the National Science, Technology, and Innovation Week (NSTW) Facebook page. (By Claire Bernadette A. Mondares, DOST-STII)