DepEd asked to pilot-test CyberEd

Top executives of the country’s major corporations and academicians from the country’s leading universities expressed serious concern over the Department of Education’s seemingly rushed efforts to implement the P26.48-billion Cyber Education project (CEP).

In a multi-sectoral discussion of the CEP organized by the Philippine Business for Education (PBED) and held at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) campus in Makati City last Monday, captains of various industries as well as academicians from the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University (DLSU) urged DepEd officials not to rush implementation of the CyberEd project in view of the apparent lack of preparation by the department for such an ambitious and expensive undertaking.

Dr. Jose Abueva, former UP president and now head of the Kalayaan College in Quezon City, and Dr. Nenita Habulan, associate director of the DLSU’s Center for Educational Multimedia, recommended that DepEd consider undertaking a pilot test of the CEP on a provincial or regional scale first before going on a nationwide rollout as is currently planned.

In the presentation of the CEP plan by DepEd’s Jess Mateo, it was confirmed that the CEP will be a project that will be funded by a concessional loan from China which will designate the company that will supply the technical requirements of the undertaking.

The CEP seeks to tap satellite technology to give DepEd the capability to broadcast digital education to some 37,000 public schools all over the country and at the same time provide them Internet connectivity.