Private sector turns over GILAS project to DepEd

MANILA, Philippines - The Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (GILAS) program will be turned over tomorrow by the private sector to the Department of Education (DepEd) with a milestone of connecting 3,306 public high schools around the country.

Representatives from the 24 member organizations of the GILAS consortium, led by steering committee co-chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, will turn over the program’s final accomplishment report to DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro in simple ceremonies at Dusit Thani in Makati City.

After more than six years of collaborative effort, GILAS has provided computer laboratories with Internet access to about 4.4 million students, and trained more than 13,500 teachers in Internet-assisted instruction, and 542 school heads and their assistants on ICT leadership. Fifty cities and 16 provinces now have full Internet connectivity.

Zobel de Ayala, chairman and CEO of Ayala Corporation, attributes the success of the program to the commitment of partners to mobilize significant resources to achieve the goal of giving Internet access to students.

Since 2005, GILAS has raised and put to use more than P360 million in cash and in-kind resources from various sectors including national government agencies, local government units, legislators, corporations and foundations both local and international, and individual donors.

Contributions also came from overseas Filipinos, specifically in the US where the Philippine Development Foundation was able to raise more than $1 million.

At the time GILAS was formed – born of the early efforts of Ayala Foundation through its Project Youth Tech, organizations such as the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the Makati Business Club (MBC), and some information technology companies – only six percent of the country’s public high schools had access to the Internet.

The objective of GILAS was to help upgrade the capability of high schools and teachers utilizing technology, especially the Internet, to provide quality education. And by providing access to the students, GILAS hopes the youth would develop the skills and competency to get better opportunities for employment when they graduate.

The GILAS package consisted of an Internet laboratory with 10 to 20 PCs, local area network, Internet connection, training for teachers and school heads, and technical assistance for one year.

During the initial years, the telecommunications companies provided free Internet connection for one year. In 2010, DepEd started providing a monthly subsidy for each school to cover the monthly Internet service fees. To ensure the schools could sustain their expenses for guaranteed Internet connection, the DepEd included the monthly subsidy in the regular maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

The impact of the program is palpable. Said a teacher from Surigao del Norte: “Now that we are implementing e-learning, it is really wonderful to see the student browsing the Internet and learning a lot. With ICT as a tool for instruction, it makes learning comprehensive, more interesting, and easy to understand.”

A school administrator from Batanes observed: “Our students and teachers are now saved from the burden of travel, time and expenses in accessing the Internet connection in the capital 14 kilometers away, where the only Internet services are available. Your gift to us is an answer to our dream of having an Internet connection.”

DepEd is now poised to complete the Internet connectivity of the rest of the 7,000 public high schools in the country.

The issue of sustainability for the GILAS program was answered in December 2009, with the creation of the DepEd Internet Connectivity Program (DICP) through DepEd Order Number 50. Under the DICP, each public high school would get a monthly subsidy to pay for its Internet services fees.

Meanwhile, the creation of the DepEd Computerization Program (DCP) was established to provide 10 to 20 computers to each of the country’s public schools, starting with the public high schools.

The two programs signify that DepEd is capable of handling and finishing the job started by the GILAS consortium.

In November 2010, during the celebration of GILAS’s 3,000th connected school, Luistro formally announced the department’s intention to mainstream GILAS into the DepEd system, a move welcomed by the consortium.

Said Zobel on that occasion: “What was started by the private sector and supported by citizens and local governments would now be brought to fruition by the national government.”

The GILAS consortium is composed of Ayala Corp.and Ayala Foundation; telcos Globe Telecom, BayanTel, Digitel, and PLDT-Smart; technology-related firms Apple, IBM Daksh, Integrated Micro-Electronics, Intel, Microsoft, and BGN Ventures; business associations American Chamber of Commerce, MBC, and PBSP; media firms philstar.com and GMA Network; DepEd, Department of Trade and Industry, and Commission on Information and Communications Technology; local government units; and other partners.