Pisay students develop AI-powered school emergency platform

• Seated from left to right: Ligtas Skwela Project Leader Kush D. Shekar, Software Developer Lorenzo S. Pariñas and Vic Andrei P. Hernando (in the middle) prepare for their 5-minute presentation at the Startup Technology Pitching competition, held at Robinsons Mall, Butuan City on August 28, 2026. (Photo by Patrick James Lee C. Alfonso, DOST-STII)

Junior high school students from the Philippine Science High School-Caraga Region Campus have developed an AI-powered platform designed to help schools track students and coordinate responses during emergencies such as fires, earthquakes and firearm-related incidents.

Called Ligtas Skwela, the school emergency management platform won first place in the Student Category of the Startup Technology Pitching Competition during the Regional Science, Technology and Innovation Week (RSTW) in Butuan City from Aug. 27 to 29.

The project was developed by students Kush D. Shekar, Lorenzo S. Pariñas and Vic Andrei P. Hernando, with guidance from project mentor Engr. Lyndon R. Bermoy.

The team said the idea came from concerns over recent emergencies in schools and the difficulty of determining the location and safety status of individual students during a crisis.

“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,” Pariñas said.

Pariñas handles the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud storage components of the system.

Tracking students by name

Ligtas Skwela is a subscription-based online platform designed to help close the information gap among teachers, emergency responders and school administrators during emergencies.

Unlike systems that rely primarily on headcounts, the platform tracks students by name, allowing administrators to determine who has been accounted for and who may still be missing.

The system has two main interfaces: Teacher Mode and Commander Mode.

“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,” Shekar, the project leader, said.

Through Teacher Mode, faculty members can access the platform and report the status of their classes. Commander Mode, meanwhile, provides administrators or emergency coordinators with a broader view of classrooms, teachers and their respective emergency status.

The platform is currently online-based, although the team said it is working on an offline version to ensure the system can remain useful when internet connectivity is disrupted during emergencies.

“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”, Hernando said.

Hardware integration planned

The students are also planning to integrate physical hardware into Ligtas Skwela to make emergency alerts and drills easier to activate.

“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.

Once ready for deployment, the team projects that the service could cost P30,000 annually for every 1,000 students, equivalent to around P30 per student per year.

The developers are also preparing to apply for a patent to protect the innovation.

Ligtas Skwela competed against eight other finalists in the Student Category. Entries were evaluated based on relevance, originality, AI integration, business viability, impact and prototype functionality.

The team was also the only group of high school students to reach the finals of the technology pitching competition.

“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.

The RSTW is organized annually by the Department of Science and Technology’s regional offices to showcase locally developed technologies, research and development projects, and other science-based innovations.

The regional events lead up to the National Science, Technology and Innovation Week, which is scheduled to be held in General Santos City in November.