Including Information Communications Technology in our elementary curriculum would be a great advancement for students in our country. It will add more competitive value for our labor forces in the world market, since information technology is now part of our daily lives.
The Department of Education (DepEd) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will conduct an assessment of on- going information communications technology for education (ICT4E) initiatives to better integrate ICT in the K to 12 Curriculum.
“We have to set up our ICT thrust as we gradually implement the K to 12 Basic Education Reform Program. As we all know, ICT plays a very important role in administrative functions as well as in the teaching and learning process,” DepEd Secretary Br. Armin A. Luistro FSC explained.
A project team coordinated by Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (FITED) will visit selected regional and division offices, public schools, and alterative learning centers that have ICT projects. The Assessment components include an inventory of ICT4E projects, a survey on ICT utilization, and studies on relevant cases. The study will be from July to September this year.
Among the initiatives the assessment will include is the DepEd Computerization Program (DCP) which deploys computer packages to public elementary and high schools nationwide to support the teaching and learning process. To date, the program has covered 51% of elementary schools and 88% of high schools as of the beginning of school year 2011- 2012.
“The improvement of the design and implementation of initiatives such as the DCP, which have direct bearing to the overall reforms propounded by K to 12, is an important undertaking,” Luistro added.
With the Department of Education got the biggest chunk in the proposed P2.006 trillion national budget for 2013, I’m very optimistic with the program.
