Google gives DepEd 1 million Workspace for Education licenses

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has received one million Google Workspace for Education licenses, which is aimed toward helping public school teachers prepare lessons and grade papers using advanced automation and AI-aided tools.

DepEd said the licenses would benefit 800,000 teachers and 200,000 non-teaching personnel, which would enable public school teachers to create lesson plans and adjust them based on areas where students are slow.

The licenses also allow teachers access to coding tutorials, and school administrators to manage students’ school-issued Chromebooks.

Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the technology provided by Google would help DepEd scale up its computerization program.

Apart from partnerships with Google, the DepEd chief said the agency would be looking for other private sector collaborators to provide the necessary technologies for 28 million students.

“How do you go from maybe doing it with a million people to doing it with 28 million students, 24 million students, the public system and another 3.5 million, the private schools also need our help. That’s the challenge,” he said.

“So, we’re looking forward to all our collaborations here,” Angara added.

Last year, DepEd signed a partnership with Khan Academy for their Khanmigo AI, which has benefitted 1,300 schools.

Apart from scaling, Angara said DepEd also needs to address internet connectivity and electricity in schools nationwide, citing how 40 percent of schools still don’t have internet access while about 1,500 schools still have no electricity.

“How do we get them to use all of these wonderful tools? These are the challenges that confront us today,” he said.