DICT, DepEd to roll out Public Education Network

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education and the Department (DepEd) of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) have partnered to establish a Public Education Network (PEN) that connects all public schools and DepEd offices nationwide and allow learners wider access to DepEd TV, DepEd Commons and other learning platforms.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones and DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan II signed two separate memorandums of agreement (MOA) last Friday for the PEN, intended to fast-track the digital connectivity of the public school network.

Aside from this, the PEN will also connect DepEd offices to governance platforms such as the DepEd Enterprise Resource Planning System (DERPS), Learner Information System (LIS), DepEd Mobile App and other partner platforms.

“This monumental collaboration is aligned with the directive of President Duterte during his 2020 State of the Nation Address (SONA). Accordingly, this is a direct response of DepEd and DICT to address the adverse effects and complications that the pandemic has imposed on basic education,” the DepEd and DICT said in a joint statement.

One of the agreements signed allows public schools to host common towers, thereby speeding up and improving the quality of internet connectivity services in the country.

“We allowed public schools to be common tower sites, where telco companies can also build common towers for their cell sites,” ICT Undersecretary for digital Emmanuel Rey Caintic said.

Caintic said ITCs or telcos would pay rental fees to public schools, to be used for the school’s maintenance and other operating expenses, including internet connectivity costs.

The partnership will also lay down the framework of cooperation and collaboration between DepEd and DICT, where the DICT assists DepEd in augmenting future satellite capacity for Last Mile Schools and in providing data transport service using a fiber-optic network under the GovNet and Microwave towers.

DepEd said coordination with the DICT on the PEN project started in April 2020.