EDITORIAL — Left behind in the IT revolution

"Google" is now officially a verb, included in the latest version of the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. A report last week said the word is one of the new entries including "mouse potato" that grew out of the rapid advances in information technology in recent years. Many Filipino students who get a chance to look at this new dictionary will be puzzled by the new words. These are students who have been deprived of access to computers and the Internet, students who are growing up clueless in the Information Age, lacking the competitiveness needed for survival in a global environment.

In many parts of the world the computer has become a basic education tool. In this country, many teachers themselves cannot use computers. Most public schools have no computers or lack IT instructors. Other developing countries with a keen sense of global competition are rushing to increase their citizens’ computer literacy and access to the Internet. If the Philippines wants to stay in the game, it should be scrambling to make every Filipino computer-literate.

Lacking funds, the government can try to obtain hand-me-down computers and software from rich countries and the private sector. Obsolescence is rapid in information technology, and there are a lot of old but still functional computers and software out there that can be donated to countries in need. Though lacking funds, the government can also start looking at handy, no-frills Internet-ready tablet PCs that are being developed for the low-end market by some industry giants.

While working on this, the government should also boost computer literacy programs in the public education system. Children from economically well-off families learn to use computers as soon as they start lessons in reading and writing. This is a major edge over less privileged children. The government must not let this educational gap between rich and poor grow wider. Those lacking access to computers can at least be taught the basic use of a keyboard by using old typewriters. The government must also get serious in improving the teaching of English, lingua franca of the Information Age. No child must be left behind in the IT revolution. The nation cannot afford to be left behind.