Republika ng Pilipinas
Kagawaran ng Edukasyon
Tanggapan ng Pangalawang Kalihim
AIDE MEMOIRE
27 May 2020
ACCELERATING THE DEPED COMPUTERIZATION PROGRAM
IN THE LIGHT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
By its very name and as instituted by law, it is the mandate of the Department of
Education (DepEd) to ensure access to and provide basic education for all learners
at all times. For this reason, DepEd—amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and given
the quarantine situation—continues to explore, develop, and enhance online
learning and teaching measures, and other alternative modes of education delivery.
Needless to say, along its mandate of ensuring learning continuity, the Department
is duty-bound to protect the health and safety of learners, teachers, non-teaching
personnel, and its school structures. Towards this end, DepEd needs to step up its
ICT. Specifically, it needs to speed up the DepEd Computerization Program (DCP)
and be prepared for any eventuality.
The use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the Department
of Education (DepEd) is anchored on four major areas of the Digital Rise Program
under the Public Schools of the Future framework pursuant to Sulong Edukalidad:
1) Digital Literacy Skills which are contained in the implementation of the
K-12 curriculum, covering the following:
a) Grades 4-6 : Productivity Tools
b) Grade 7 : Basic Programming
c) Grades 8-10 : Multimedia Skills
d) Grades 11-12 : Vocational Skills and Open Source
2) ICT-Assisted Teaching where teachers will have access to e-learning
resources that have been mapped out against the curriculum and can be
used in classroom teaching;
3) ICT-Assisted Learning where learners will have feedback regarding the
competencies that they are weak in and the corresponding e-learning
resources that they need to review in order to better understand the
concepts; and
Office of the Undersecretary for Administration (OUA)
[Administrative Service (AS), Information and Communications Technology Service (ICTS),
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRMMS), Bureau of Learner Support
Services (BLSS), Baguio Teachers Camp (BTC), Central Security & Safety Office (CSSO)]
Department of Education, Central Office, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City
Rm 519, Mabini Bldg; Mobile: +639260320762; Tel: (+632) 86337203, (+632) 86376207
Email:
[email protected]; Facebook/Twitter @depedtayo
4) Automation of Organization Processes, in particular Financial
Management Reforms (FMR), that will allow DepEd to track the status of
budget releases in real time as well as improve accounting systems,
internal control, budget utilization and delivery systems.
To support these undertakings, the Department of Education has initiated the
replacement of existing computer laboratories with mobile laboratories
containing tablets and laptops that can be moved from one classroom to
another. This already started in 2019 DCP where computer desktops were no
longer considered.
Previously, thin-clients and desktops were provided which required a dedicated
classroom to be converted into a computer laboratory where computer classes
would be conducted. Since 2019, the Department has shifted to mobile laboratories
where laptops and tablet PCs can be moved across different classrooms using
storage carts. This scheme reduces the need to have dedicated classrooms that act
as computer laboratory; it allows the school to conduct computer classes even
during power interruptions; and it further allows the school to easily move the
devices to safe locations during disasters and emergencies.
This change signifies the leap from merely studying ICT as a subject, to fully
utilizing its features and advantages as effective tools for both teaching and
learning.
This direction of the Department has been emphasized and accelerated by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The vision of the Department to enable the following is now accelerated and has
become urgent and inevitable:
1) all classrooms to have televisions,
2) all teachers to have laptops and teaching equipment
3) all schools to have at least one E-Classroom Package
to support 6 sections
4) all sites (offices, schools and centers) are connected
5) all governance processes are automated, and
6) all officials and teachers are connected
This will cost about P167,586,511,249.
This initiative is the core of the DepEd Computerization Program and it includes
the following:
1) E-Classroom and Multimedia Packages which contain fixed and
movable or portable technologies for the teachers to deliver Digital
Literacy Skills and implement ICT-Assisted Teaching and for students for
their ICT-Assisted Learning during regular classes;
There are currently 39,052 E-Classroom packages being used throughout
the country to conduct computer classes to develop Digital Literacy Skills
in our learners. Providing all of the 47,025 schools with the needed E-
Classroom packages for every six sections would require an investment
of P74,609,600,000.
There are presently 45,869 classrooms with televisions/projectors and
laptops that support ICT Assisted Teaching in schools on top of the
36,676 packages under FY2020. Providing all the 707,600 existing
classrooms with multimedia packages would require an additional
investment of P44,773,890,000. P27 billion of this amount is for
teachers’ laptops.
2) Public Education Network (PEN) to ensure that all schools will be
connected, cybersecurity protocols are standardized, and utilization of
ICT equipment can be monitored by the Department;
Connecting all schools to the DepEd Public Education Network will
require P4,467,375,000 more.
3) Educational Systems will ensure that the software needed to use the
hardware for educational purposes is available.
a) Learner Information System (LIS) is currently used to issue the
unique Learner Reference Number (LRN), record the basic Learner
profile and generate school forms. It will be enhanced to cover
additional information on the academic performance, health
status, athletics record, and socio-economic background. It will
also be enhanced to allow learners to order their permanent records
through the internet without needing to go back to the school where
they graduated from. This will ensure that permanent records will
no longer be lost due to disasters that may affect the school.
b) DepEd Commons will contain OERs and e-books for each grade
level and subject area for each week in the school calendar that can
be used to enrich regular classes as well as allow distance learning
whenever disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic prevents
learners from going to school.
c) LR Portal will contain learning resources that are intended to be
printed as well as the quality assurance mechanisms to produce
these materials.
d) Learning Management System (LMS) will allow teachers to create
virtual classrooms where blended learning and digital quizzes can
occur in face-to-face classes or in conditions where distance
learning is required.
e) Classroom Management System will allow teachers to view and
manage devices inside a classroom so they can make sure that their
students are actually doing the activities assigned to them.
f) Monitoring Applications will allow DepEd to deploy quick surveys
and program monitoring systems that are cellphone based. One of
the major functions that it will serve is to facilitate the contact
tracing of COVID-19 cases among teachers and learners in a secure
manner that is compliant with the Data Privacy Act.
g) Telemedicine System will allow DepEd to establish a
computerized system of diagnosis and referral to ensure that the
health of learners is protected and addressed.
h) Microsoft Subscription covers a range of products from Office 365
which is needed to deliver the digital literacy skills component of
the K-12 curriculum, Power BI for generating analytics, and Azure
Cloud Services where DepEd systems are hosted.
i) Adobe Subscriptions covers a range of products from the Creative
Cloud which is needed to deliver the digital literacy skills
component of the K-12 curriculum and localize OERs as well as
Adobe Sign that is used for paperless transactions.
Establishing the Education Systems that will allow the hardware to be
used for education purposes will cost P9,885,638,913.
4) Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative where more than 7,000
videos, 20,000 interactive activities, and 5.8 million articles are preloaded
into the ICT equipment at no cost to government together with a
Learning Management System (LMS) which can be accessed and used
even without connectivity. In the near future, DepEd will release a system
that will allow learners to take their quizzes and periodical exams in the
LMS and automatically get feedback on areas they are weak in with the
corresponding e-Learning resources that they need to review to better
understand the concepts;
5) Massive Capacity Building Program that will enable teachers to fully
maximize the use of ICT equipment and the digital literacy component of
the curriculum using industry standard proprietary applications, as well
as the use of OERs in classroom teaching. Teachers will also be trained
to develop localized e-Learning resources that will be more relevant to our
learners.
Building the capacity of teachers will cost P897,288,000.
6) Automation of Common Organizational Processes through the DepEd
Enterprise Resource Planning System (DERPS) that will cover the
infrastructure, software, and change management services needed to
implement an integrated system for Asset Management, Procurement,
Payroll, and Human Resources. It will also include services to
communicate with other systems being deployed by oversight agencies
such as the Budget Treasury Management System (BTMS) which will
automate financial transactions in government.
Automating all governance processes will still need P945,000,000.
7) TV and Radio Based Education which will produce and broadcast
educational lessons through a dedicated DepEd channel in the mediums
that currently have the widest reach will cost P3,000,000,000.
8) Establishing an Education Technology Division which will take charge
of conceptualizing and implementing the integration of technology in
education will cost P7,719,336.
9) Connecting all supervising officials and teachers will enable them to
communicate easily through voice calls, video calls, and data sharing
applications. Through mobile connectivity, DepEd is geared to take advantage
of teleconferencing, video conferencing, and video calling systems to drive and
manage collaboration among its employees. This will cost P4,000,000,000.
10) Emergency smart phones for learners, a stock of 5 million
smartphones are needed to be prepositioned throughout the country and
deployed to learners with no personal devices whenever home-based
learning is required to address class suspensions caused by disasters
such as the COVID-19 pandemic, typhoons, or earthquakes. This will cost
another P25,000,000,000.
All in all, a total of P167,586,511,249 is needed.
While the amounts are staggering, the benefits of the Digital Rise Program will
be a Big Leap of the Philippines towards Cyber Presence. We can be assured
that the proper combination of technology and education, the Filipino Youth will
be future-ready to adequately address issues, concerns and problems that they
have to face in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution.
ALAIN DEL B. PASCUA
Undersecretary
