Thursday, September 20, 2007 DepEd regional chief defends cyber education program By Carlo P. Mallo
THE Department of Education (DepEd)-Southern Mindanao chief defended the controversial Cyber Education Program (CEP), saying such is the most efficient means of improving the educational system of the country.
DepEd-Southern Mindanao chief Susuna Estigoy said the CEP will provide faster and more efficient means of improving the educational system of the country.
"It would enable us to share and learn from the practices of the other regions," Estigoy told reporters Wednesday in an ambush interview.
Estigoy said the initial plan was to first set up the CEP in 4,000 public schools nationwide. She has yet to receive data as to how many schools in the region will be part of the first phase of the implementation of the CEP.
The three-year program is aimed to consolidate and connect all the public schools throughout the country by 2010. "The final plan for the program is still continually evolving," Estigoy added.
She revealed that the program will be using satellite technology, and that cyber education will link all schools throughout the country to a nationwide network that will provide 12 video channels, wireless wide area networking, local area networking, and wireless Internet connectivity.
Schools will receive live broadcasts featuring lectures and presentations from master teachers. A total of 37,794 schools or 90 percent of all public schools nationwide would be connected in the next three years.
The CEP is expected to improve the delivery of basic education by enhancing student competence and upgrade the capabilities of teachers and school administrators, the DepEd said, adding that it also seeks to enhance school-based management and internal controls.
Estigoy also pointed out that most advanced countries in the world are already using a similar approach in improving their educational systems. "Almost all countries use what they believe can reach out to the most teachers in the least (amount of) time... we are after time here," she said.
Other countries that utilize satellite-based distance learning programs include the US, Canada, Chile, Mexico, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Thailand, Indonesia, India and China.
The project is also patterned after the success of the China Education and Research Network (Cernet), which serves 320 million schoolchildren and the E-Education Project, which provides almost the same Cyber Ed package to almost 500,000 schools and universities in China.
Apart from providing an avenue for master teachers to reach out to more students, the CEP also provides a channel that is for the exclusive use of the teachers only.
"Through this channel we would be able to exchange ideas and learn without having to go far," Estigoy said.
She added that with the project, they are bound to save more as there would be no need for them to fly to the other cities. "We can greatly save on transportation and accommodation expenses," she said.
The project was approved by the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) in March 2007. It is in accordance with Framework Agreement on Bilateral Economic and Trade Cooperation, which was signed on January 15, 2007.
