Lapus wants ICT teaching beefed up

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus called for the strengthening of information and communications technology (ICT) education through the integration of ICT into basic education.

In his address before the participants in the Second National ICT in Basic Education Congress held at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City yesterday, Lapus said the quality of and access to basic education remain as the goals of educational development.

"Thus, all educational interventions shall be geared toward ensuring the empowerment of learners with life-long skills through the use of appropriate technologies," he said.

The Basic Education Congress aims to promote a more strategic and systematic decision-making and planning at the national and local levels on ICT’s role in the basic education system within the framework of quality education for all.

Lapus said the education department’s ICT integration program should focus on educational development in line with national policies that underpin basic education.

To effectively integrate ICT into basic education, he said it must consider the obsolescence and maintenance of current ICT resources and the coordination in the basic education efforts of government agencies, non-governmental organizations and the ICT community, among other things.

"As part of our master plan for ICT in basic education, all these efforts require us to employ specific strategies to ensure the effective and efficient implementation of such a plan," he said.

Part of the master plan is the creation of a National ICT for Basic Education Fund, which will be used to improve ICT facilities, develop curriculum-based materials, train trainers, and undertake research and development.

"In the end, this all boils down to how much resources we can allocate for ICT in basic education. Our inability to move forward is a mere expression of the sad state of basic education in our country," Lapus said.