Education
Lapus urges educators to optimize existing ICT programs
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Dec 3, 2008 - 11:09:23 AM

MANILA, Dec. 5 (PNA) -- Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Jesli Lapus on Wednesday called for the optimum use of information and communication technology (ICT) to deliver quality education and enhance institutional efficiency worthy of the 21st century.

Lapus made the call during the National Educators' Congress in Baguio City where he also cited the department’s effort to provide ICT-enriched learning materials, internet connectivity and computer laboratories to public schools through the assistance of the private sector.

“It is about time that we effectively use ICT in teaching and learning as well as in managing the delivery of services,” he stressed.

Some of the topics of this year’s Educators’ Congress will focus on ICT tools that can be used to enhance productivity among teachers, school heads, education managers and field office administrators.

These session aim to provide real and live examples of practices of DepEd’s ICT partners.

“Introducing new stuff to educators and learners can be useless if they cannot harness and build on existing ICT initiatives,” Lapus said.

Ayala Foundation, Intel, USAID, SMART, Oracle and Microsoft are some of the institutions that support DepEd in its goal to bring digital literacy to Filipino students and make them competitive with country's more progressive neighbors.

DepEd has increased its ICT-related efforts to sustain the initiatives that these groups have started.

Lapus instructed the department’s budget chief to provide additional operating funds to schools which have dropped connections to cover internet subscription fees and incremental electric consumption charges.

“Before I assumed leadership at DepEd, the department has several programs that, when improved, continues to be relevant to our public schools. Alongside the creation of new programs on digital literacy, there still a need to build on and continue existing meritorious programs,” he explained.

The department’s ICT4E or Information and Communication Technology for Education – the strategic plan of which has just been completed – builds on earlier efforts, strategies and interventions developed by DepEd in partnership with its stakeholders.

It is a roadmap on what, when, where, why and how DepEd will employ and integrate ICT in the delivery of learning competencies initially in the core subjects of English, Science and Mathematics.

Earlier, over 800 educators, education policymakers, directors and superintendents, deans of colleges and government and non-government institutions in the field of ICT are expected to participate in the 3rd National ICTs in Basic Education Congress in Cebu City.

The event is spearheaded by the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FIT-ED) which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.

The congress theme is "Teaching the Net Generation: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning." The biennial event is jointly organized by the Department of Education (DepED) and the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU).

The DepEd has embraced technology as a strategic tool to bridge the current information and education gap in the country.

Former Foreign Affairs Secretary and FIT-ED Chairman Roberto Romulo said this is the largest gathering of Philippine educators and education stakeholders that focuses on ICTs in primary and secondary education.

"While we at FIT-ED are fully committed to assist teachers and schools in utilizing ICTs, we would like to arrive at some consensus during the Congress on how to most effectively benchmark progress across the country as well as to formulate strategies for moving forward," said Romulo.

FIT-ED, a private, non-profit organization advocating the sustainable and responsible integration of ICT in local education, has been working closely with DepEd.

UPOU, which is the national center of excellence in open and distance education and the national e-learning competency center, has been FIT-ED's partner in several teacher professional development programs in ICT and curriculum integration in basic education since 2000.

The three organizations will discuss local and international efforts in ICT for Education (ICT4E) so that the congress participants can critically examine what methods can work and can be adopted in the Philippines.

"What we want to achieve during the Congress is a convergence of priorities across the education sector, with particular focus on how to most effectively utilize ICTs to benefit our students and teachers," said Lapus.

Lapus is expected to unveil DepEd's 5-year ICT4E Strategic Plan during the first plenary session of the Congress. This will be followed by the presentation by Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo of the Department's ICT competency standards for teachers.

Forty-eight other presentations and demonstrations will be given at concurrent sessions along three main tracks:

-ICT integration into and across the elementary and secondary school curricula;

-Teacher professional development and instructional support; and