DepEd bent on implementing CyberEd despite fund woes

MANILA, Philippines – Arguing that the Philippines had already been left behind by its Asian neighbors in harnessing information communication technology (ICT) to improve the quality of basic education, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus stressed that the Department of Education (DepEd) is bent on implementing its “Cyber Education” plan.

Speaking at the opening of the 3rd National ICT in Basic Education Congress held at the Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, Cebu this week, Lapuz said the education department intends to provide public school students with ICT skills during their 10-year basic education, a program dubbed as “ICT for Education” (ICT4E).

“As we always say, providing our students with 21st century skills is the goal of our educational system. While 21st century skills go beyond ICT skills, development of ICT competency remains an important goal to us,” Lapus said.

He said among the Philippines’ ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) neighbors, its closest counterparts like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have already implemented their own version of “Cyber Education” to equip their young people with higher quality education and ICT skills.

“We have a lot of catching up to do. This is really inevitable,” Lapus said. “As you may know, 21st century skills involves the delivery of digital age literacy requirements for our learners to include the development of inventive thinking, effective communication, creativity, collaboration and high productivity.”

He said lack of budget allocation will not hinder the department’s determination to establish cyber education.

“We’ll look for ways to get it,” Lapus said, referring to the P2-billion budget allocation the department needs to implement the five-year ICT4E plan it is now preparing.

The Department of Budget and Management had stricken out the P2-billion budget allocation for the ICT4E program in the DepEd’s P167 billion budget.

“We need to have a master plan for all stakeholders to follow the BESRA or the Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda, which is the roadmap of everything that’s being done in reforming and transforming education,” Lapus said.

The said conference was organized by the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development Inc., headed by its chairman, Roberto Romulo, and the University of the Philippines (UP) Open University.

Lapus said the ICT4E plan is a “five-year strategic plan” that will integrate ICT in public schools, establish the physical IT structure needed by the program, and address policy, procurement, and curriculum requirements of the undertaking.