Congressman on CyberEd project: Imitate Marikina

The suspended $460 million Cyber Education Project (CEP) should be put back in the Department of Education pipeline and implemented just like in Marikina, one of the city’s two congressmen proposed.

Rep. Del de Guzman, who heads the committee on basic education in the House of Representatives, described as “unfair and unadvisable” reported plans of the government to scrap the project based merely on unsubstantiated charges of graft.

“Giving up the noble project is hardly the answer to claims that the CEP is tainted with irregularities. Instead of canceling CEP, government should guarantee funding so it could be implemented effectively in most public schools in the country,” he said.

Marikina’s other congressman is Rep. Marcy Teodoro.

De Guzman cited Marikina’s cyber education program, saying this should be replicated and “applied on a national scale.”

The Marikina City government has been implementing its own cyber education project for public elementary and high schools for three years now.

“Our experience about cyber education is very positive. Student interest in learning has improved a lot,” De Guzman said.

Malacañang has indefinitely suspended implementation of the CEP in response to protests from the opposition and other critics who claimed that the project is fraught with irregularities.

CEP critics have also insisted that the project cannot be carried out nationwide because at least five percent of schools that are supposed to benefit from the project still do not have electricity.

“It is not right to let over 90 percent of our students suffer and be denied access to better education mainly because less than 10 percent of the school population cannot benefit from it. That’s just ridiculous,” De Guzman said.

He proposed that the government strive more to provide electricity to the remotest areas possible, particularly those areas where the CEP is necessary.

Education officials, led by Secretary Jesli Lapus, have also expressed disappointment over the suspension of the CEP project, which targets a total 37,794 public schools in the next three years with an annual coverage of 13.6 million students.

The CEP, to be undertaken in cooperation with a Chinese firm, aims to bridge the learning gap between urban and rural schools by using satellite technology to beam televised lectures to students and teachers in far-flung areas.

The satellite-based distance learning program is capable of broadcasting lectures by the best teachers from DepEd’s model schools to other public schools nationwide.  – Delon Porcalla