Zero backlog in facilities, ICT4E assessment

DIRECTOR'S Cut: (This portion features the thoughts of DepED 11 Regional Director Susana Teresa B. Estigoy, CESO IV to all stakeholders and recipients of the efforts to improve the basic education) I do not consider my job as plain work --- rather it is my LIFE. “We have to continually examine what succeeds and fails, and why. We have to uphold and live true to our battlecry and slogan of governance: “Education For All (EFA) 2015: Karapatan ng Lahat, Pananagutan ng Lahat”

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IN SEPARATE occasions, President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) and DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro in one of his official functions vowed to address the shortages in teachers, classrooms, toilets, textbooks and armchairs with the approval of the proposed P292.7-billion budget for education next year.

In a report published in major dailies the other day, both officials agreed to the proposed hiring of 61,000 new teachers, constructing some 66,000 classrooms and 90,000 toilets to end the perennial problems besetting the department every year.

Luistro said that the budget, which is 23 percent higher or an additional of P55.9 billion from this year's P238.8 billion will finally address the shortages faced in the previous years.

It was brought by a constitutional mandate to provide education with the highest allocation given the situation of the schools getting bigger each year due to the increasing student population.

Aside from the said budget, the government is hoping that its Public Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) and the school building project inked with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, an umbrella organization of all the local government units in the country will also be in placed so that classroom backlog will become part of history in 2013.

The DepEd Chief said that the shortages in textbooks and armchairs are being addressed this year. He even urged the public to report to him or in any DepEd field offices any incidence of shortage pertaining to the two facilities mentioned earlier.
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With the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum being implemented and now on its maiden year of implementation, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are now conducting a review on computer accessibility in public schools undertaken by past and ongoing information communications technology (ICT) programs.

Pursuant to DepEd Memo No. 112, s. 2012, the assessment of the current state of computerization of public schools will aim to help DepEd better integrate ICT to K to 12 curriculum.

Secretary Luistro emphasized that ICT education will be an important aspect as they formulate an effectively enhanced K to 12 basic education curriculum. He said that DepEd need to set up ICT thrust as the department is gradually implementing the K to 12 Curriculum.

It is a known fact that ICT plays a very important role in administrative functions as well as in the teaching and learning process.

As stated in DepEd Memo No. 112, a project team spearheaded by the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) will visit selected regional and division offices, public schools, and alternative learning centers that have ICT projects.

They are now currently assessing components which include an inventory of ICT for Education (ICT4E) projects conducted by the DepEd with private sector, and foreign donor organizations, a survey on ICT utilization, and studies on relevant cases.

The schools identified to partake in the ICT4E assessment are expected to cooperate with the authorities in charge to do the survey so that the needed results will be achieved.
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You can access DepED Updates, latest issuances, photos and other relevant information through our website: http://www.deped.gov.ph and our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/deped.regionxi. For comments, suggestions and/or contributions, send you email to deped_roxi@yahoo.com. For queries, complains and other concerns, call DepED Region 11 at (082) 227-9342 or fax to (082) 227-1102 and (082) 221-6147.