Senator Sherwin Gatchalian pitched his proposal anew to accelerate the installation of free public Wi-Fi in public schools nationwide.
Gatchalian earlier filed Senate Bill No. 383 or the Digital Transformation in Basic Education Act.
He previously flagged that five years after the enactment of the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act (Republic Act No. 10929), the Free Public Wi-Fi Dashboard revealed that only 860 or 1.8% of the country’s 47,421 public schools have free public Wi-Fi as of September 2, 2022.
Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education recalled how the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted a digital divide in the country, which mostly affected learners in poorer households.
Based on a 2021 survey by the World Bank on low-income households, only 40% have access to the internet.
The same survey also revealed that 95.5% of these households used paper-based learning modules and materials.
The Digital Transformation in Basic Education Act also seeks to escalate the building of the national infrastructure for information and communications technology (ICT).
The proposed measure will mandate the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to identify locations for the construction of telecommunications tower sites. Missionary areas that remain unconnected, unserved, or underserved will be prioritized.
The bill also seeks to enhance the capacity of all schools to enhance and strengthen their ICT capacity to implement distance learning. To boost the basic education sector towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will assist both Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on the use of science, technology, and innovation to improve traditional teaching and learning processes. Macon Ramos-Araneta