Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Cyber education now offered to students
* US, Knowledge Channel turn over peace education modules to Secretary Lapus
EDUCATION in the country is going high-tech.
This, as Education Secretary Jesli Lapus has promised to increase the quality of teaching in the country by means of tapping the best teachers in public schools who could give lessons to pupils and students in various schools nationwide through cyberspace.
Lapus, who was in Prieto Diaz, Sorsogon, said several television frequencies such as Channels Grade 1, Grade 3 and Fourth Year, which are inaccessible in ordinary television sets, could be made accessible to elementary and high school students once the Department of Education (DepEd0 launches its Cyber Education program later this year.
Lapus was invited by GMA-7 led by network executive Mel Tiangco of the Kapuso Foundation to the turnover ceremonies of two new school buildings that were repaired and constructed by the foundation to the Prieto Diaz Municipal Government and local DepEd officials there.
Lapus said cyber education would partially solve the shortage in books and teachers and it will double as training for teachers. "Students will learn from the best teachers and teachers would also have new knowledge in doing their job," he said, referring to the plan to tap the best teachers in each subject area being taught in public schools.
The program, which was already approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), will be allocated US$100 million from the Chinese Government as part of the Official Development Assistance (ODA), he said.
Lapus said this early, the program was already being criticized by some sectors who were questioning why the DepEd was investing so much in computers when it had not yet solved the acute shortage in books and teachers.
Lapus said the program was in fact a solution to the need for more books and teachers.
"As per our estimate, DepEd would be spending only P0.50 per student for the program, which is a negligible amount," he said.
Education is one aspect where the government in the past had under-invested when it has the biggest potential for a huge return-of-investment (ROI) in terms of good quality of citizens, Lapus added.
Set to start in the first quarter of next year, the program would initially include 3,000 schools but would exclude those that are in first and second-class cities.
Lapus said each grade and year level will have its own channel and will cover all subjects in the curriculum with each subject consisting of a 20-minute interactive computer lecture and 40-minute classroom lecture.
He said lectures conducted through the computer could be replayed as they would be stored in the computer to be set up in the multi-media classroom.
Lapus said the program and the computers will be set up by the Xing Hua University, which is the best in distance learning program worldwide.
Distance learning system is being used in a school in a slum area in Quezon City. Neighboring countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India and China also use the system, Lapus added.
He said DepEd is targeting 37,000 schools to be covered by the program within a three-year period.
In a presentation during the second National Information Technology Congress in Cebu earlier this year, Lapus revealed that computer-to-teacher ratio in elementary stood at 1:728 while in high school it is one computer to three teachers.
But the statistics for computer to student ratio stood at one computer to 25,000 elementary students while the ratio for high school is at 111 students per computer.
There are approximately 37,900 public elementary schools and another 4,769 public high schools in the country. "The lower computer to student and teacher ratio in the secondary level can be attributed to the massive Computers for Schools project which was started by the department in cooperation with the Department of Trade and Industry," Lapus said in his presentation.
The project has already resulted in the distribution of 3,000 computers to public schools nationwide.
Lapus said many private companies whose line of business is in information technology have long been inquiring how they could be of help to the government. He said now they would have an avenue to extend their assistance to the community through this program.
The education secretary assured local officials of Sorsogon led by Governor-elect Sally Lee and Mayor Benito Doma that Sorsogon would be one of the pilot areas of the program with the inclusion of the Prieto Diaz Elementary School in the list of beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, Lapus accepted peace education modules for the elementary level from the US Agency for International Development (Usaid) and Knowledge Channel, as part of their commitment to the advancement of Mindanao.
Lapus, together with US Ambassador Kristie Kenney, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) Secretary Jesus Dureza, Usaid Philippines Acting Mission Director Daniel Moore, Usaid Office of Education Cognizant Technical Officer Tom Kral, Usaid Office of Education Chief Tom Crehan and Knowledge Channel Foundation Inc. (KCFI) chairman Oscar Lopez and president and executive director Rina Lopez-Bautista were present during the formal launching and turnover ceremony of the modules at the DepEd central office in Pasig City.
"Salam" is a 10-part series based on the peace education exemplars directed at Grade 5 and 6 students to equip them with skills and develop the attitude necessary for building peace in the country. The story of the video series revolves around four individuals in the peace building sector, who reminisce about their childhood in conflict-ridden Mindanao and share how they have come to choose peace building as a career path.
The peace educational video modules was developed as part of Usaid's TV Education for the Advancement of Muslim Mindanao (Team-Mindanao), a 3-year project under its strategic education objective and providing skills to out-of-school youth in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao.
The content of the video modules was based on DepEd's Peace Education teaching exemplars for the elementary level, which was launched in September 2005 by the department, together with Opapp. "Salam" is a direct response to Executive Order number 570 entitled "Institutionalizing Peace Education in Basic Education and Teaching education, signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last September 2006, which aims to mainstream peace education in the basic and non-formal education curriculum.
"It is very timely that we help our students develop attitudes and skills conducive to peace in the individual, interpersonal, national and global levels," Lapus said. "Through these educational video modules, we hope that our students will understand the processes that lead to harmony or conflict. And we hope that they can be made aware of the various approaches to constructive conflict resolution."
The official added that the modules' release is very timely especially for children in conflict-ridden areas in Mindanao where clashes between government troops and various rebel groups takes place from time to time.
He said it will also help foster better understanding of differences in opinion among students especially those of different faiths.
The educational video modules will be shown over the Knowledge Channel and its sister channels ABS-CBN and ABS-CBN News Channel.
Aside from the "Salam" concept, the department has also prioritized the incorporation of "Madrasah" teachings featuring Islamic customs, faith and beliefs in the regular curriculum. (AH/Sunnex)
