All public high schools to get Internet access

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday said that all public high schools in the country will have computer laboratories and Internet connectivity before the end of 2010. Mari Paul Soriano, the Education department’s Technical Services Director, said that only 813 out the country’s 6,650 public high schools have no computer laboratories and Internet access.

“We are now in the last phase of the program to provide computers to our public schools. By December, all high schools in the country will have computer laboratories,” he added.

A school’s computer laboratory has to have 11 sets of computers as well as software needed for their operations.

Soriano said that for schools, which do not have access to electricity, the Education department is distributing laptops that have batteries, which can be charged through solar panels installed in the schools or community.

He added that of the 6,650 high schools, 4,050 are already connected to the Internet, enabling students and teachers to easily access information from the World Wide Web.

Last year, 1,856 sets of computer laboratory equipment were procured for public high schools and another 257 for technical-vocational schools.

The private sector also helped connect to the Internet 2,020 public high schools in 31 cities and two municipalities through the Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students project launched in 2005.

Soriano said that the computer distribution program is part of the DepEd’s ongoing effort to upgrade the quality of basic education in the country, by making modern information technology accessible to students and their teachers.

He added that the program is also aimed at helping achieve the DepEd’s Education for All goals by 2015 as set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

But Soriano admitted that it may take some time and additional investment to equip all public elementary schools with computers and hook them to the Internet.

There are more than 36,000 public elementary schools nationwide. –MARIA NIKKA GARRIGA REPORTER, Manila Times