Wednesday, December 05, 2007 Roxas against DepEd's cyber education plan By Carlo P. Mallo
SENATOR Manuel "Mar" Roxas believes that the multi-million-peso cyber education project of the Department of Education (DepEd) is but a waste of money.
"Sana hindi na ito matuloy at ito'y malaking pagsasayang sa pera ni Juan dela Cruz (I hope that it will not push through as it is a big waste of the people's money)," Roxas said in an interview last Monday.
Roxas expressed that there are other means and technologies, which can be used to improve the educational system of the country.
"We can use the government owned channel, PTV 4 (now under the name National Broadcasting Network), if the government really wants to push for that kind of program," Roxas added.
The senator also said the country is not prepared for an ambitious project such as the proposed Cyber Education project.
"Why not instead focus on building more classrooms, providing more learning tools, better training for our teachers?" Roxas asked.
"Hindi talaga natin kailangan ito (We really don't need this), we need to return to basics," Roxas reiterated on the Cyber Education project, which he described as "an over-designed, gold plated project of the current administration."
Roxas further ranted on the project as it was not subject to review of the Senate and that no public bidding was made.
DepEd's multi-million-peso Cyber Education project was shelved after the scandal on the anomalous ZTE National Broadband Network deal broke out.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz said in previous interviews that the Cyber Education project is aimed to modernize and upgrade the public educational institutions in the country.
