DepEd, Ateneo launch website to monitor public schools

MANILA, Philippines - The public can now access information on public schools through a website launched by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Ateneo School of Government called checkmyschool.org.

By logging on to the website, the public can access information on a school’s budget, enrollment, teaching personnel, furniture, textbooks, classrooms, toilets, test performance, and proficiency ratings, among others.

The site facilitates interaction and allows users to send comments, photos, videos, and additional information. The site will serve as an independent third-party monitor of government performance in providing education services.

The pilot implementation of checkmyschool.org, which ran from Aug. 22 to Sept. 2, involved volunteer orientation, validation of information on available school services, reporting and closing.

Checkmyschool.org is a joint undertaking of DepEd and the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, of which the Ateneo School of Government serves as the secretariat.

Preliminary information in the website came from different units of the DepEd, such as the Basic Education Information System, Physical Facilities and Schools Engineering Division, Instructional Materials Council Secretariat, Procurement Service, National Education Testing and Research Center, and the budget office.

Updates on school information will come from school administrators, volunteers, and organizations in each school.

The public may give feedback in a number of ways: validate or invalidate the accuracy of reported services, express satisfaction or dissatisfaction, suggest ways to improve performance, or offer to assist a school.

To date, some 8,000 of more than 44,000 public elementary and high schools nationwide are included in the initial run of checkmyschool.org.