With the absence of computers and mobile devices to promote learning, teachers and students in public schools may have to contend with only over half a million usable gadgets previously provided to schools nationwide by the Department of Education ( DepEd).
According to recent reports, the DepEd has only 532,637 IT systems spread nationally across 44,155 public schools that could be loaned to some of the 822,002 teachers and some of the 19.28 million elementary and high school students in the state.
In the memo, the DepEd also underlined that, given the restricted inventory, these borrowing and learning steps "are only a temporary solution for teachers without computers."
The students were those found via the Learner Enrollment and Survey Form who were permitted to borrow gadgets. Those with disabilities are the focus, Pascua said.
Just 66,049 laptops, desktops and tablets are available at Metro Manila for some teachers to lend, and about 648,405 students of public schools in the National Capital Region (NCR) lack gadgets.
But Secretary General Raymond Basilio of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers argues that these devices, which are said to be available on paper, were still not enough.
In reality, some last-mile schools, or those located in far-flung areas, have only one laptop, he said.
Need to emphasize on this one..