Improve basic education before pursuing IT ambition, government told

The Arroyo administration must first resolve basic problems hounding the public education sector before embarking on an ambitious goal to transform the Philippines into Asia's center for information and communications technology (ICT), according opposition Sen. Teresa Aquino Oreta.

Oreta asked how the government can realize its goal of transforming the country into a regional ICT center and churn out highly knowledgeable workers when public schools lack the basic needs for computer education, such as electricity and qualified personnel adept at the use of information technology.

Transportation and Communications Secretary Pantaleon Alvarez earlier announced that his department would be launching a "pioneering ICT project" that would enable Filipinos to affordably access information and transact business online," an initiative aimed at helping the government fulfill its goal of making the Philippines the ICT hub of Asia.

But while Oreta welcomed this plan, she stressed the need to address pressing concerns plaguing the education sector such as the lack of electricity and telephones in public schools.

Based on the findings of the groundbreaking Project TAO survey initiated by Oreta as Senate committee chairperson during the previous Congress, only 1.8 percent of public schools nationwide have Internet access while only close to 14 percent of the country's over 400,000 public school teachers use computers.

Project TAO, a comprehensive survey on the welfare and working conditions of the Filipino public school teacher, also showed that 44.83 percent of public tutors asked to assess their school facilities said that their classrooms have no electricity, a necessary element to enable schools to use computers and gain Internet access.