DepEd to release P581 million for high school tablet computers

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education will release over P581 million to its regional offices to buy tablet computers for high school students enrolled outside the traditional basic education program.

In a memorandum released on Aug. 22, the DepEd said those eligible to receive tablets include high school students living in areas prone to natural hazards and onsite class suspensions, students enrolled in the Open High School Program (OHSP) and the basic literacy program under the Alternative Learning System (ALS).

Aside from these, students under accreditation and equivalency programs for elementary and junior high school are also eligible.

DepEd Undersecretary Gina Gonong said providing tablets to these students is crucial as their programs have less teacher interaction and technical support as opposed to those enrolled in the regular basic education program.

“This shall warrant learners (in these programs) to have the same developed knowledge, skills and attitude as learners in the traditional school,” Gonong wrote in the memorandum.

The DepEd said it allocated over P273 million for students under the OHSP and those in disaster-prone areas. The amount is expected to buy 18,252 tablets.

Metro Manila will get the most number of tablets with 2,937, followed by Bicol region with 2,726 and Central Visayas with 2,082.

Meanwhile, the lion’s share of the budget has been poured into the ALS and equivalency learners nationwide, who will receive 20,513 tablets worth over P307 million.

The funds for the tablets were sourced from the flexible learning options fund of the agency for fiscal year 2023, according to Gonong.

The DepEd said the computation of costs was based on the number of students in disaster-prone areas and those enrolled in the OHSP, ALS and equivalency programs.

Each tablet was estimated to cost P15,000 at most.

Based on the DepEd’s guidelines, the devices need to be octa-core processor powered with configurations of 4X1.8 gigahertz and 4x2.3 GHz, with four-gigabytes of RAM, 64-GB internal storage and could be expanded through a MicroSD card up to 256 GB, a 5.0-megapixel fixed-focus front camera and an 8.0-megapixel auto-focus rear camera, a type-C USB 2.0 port, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

Gonong said the use of the tablets shall be guided by existing DepEd orders.

School heads were also tasked with safekeeping of the tablets in coordination with the school property custodian and teachers.