Lapus asks telcos to subsidize Internet connections in public schools

11/23/2008

Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Jesli Lapus appealed to telecommunication companies to subsidize rates for Internet connections in public schools.

DepEd needs P600 million every year to connect all public high schools to the Internet.

“Affordable Internet fees mean fewer barriers (to wiring up schools),” Lapus said during the program of the private umbrella foundation Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (Gilas).

He said the DepEd is taking up the challenge to sustain private efforts which have brought Internet connections to more than 2,000 public high schools so far.

Gilas, spearheaded by Ayala Foundation, has connected to the Internet 2,020 public high schools in 31 cities, two provinces and two towns since it was launched in 2005.

Schools which already have computer laboratories are given free one-year Internet connection while those without facilities are provided 10 computers and one-year Internet connection under the program.

Lapus, however, said the real challenge is what actually happens after the first year, disclosing that some schools which got free Internet connection from GILAS had dropped out of the program after the one-year free connection lapsed.

Despite the constraints mainly due to limited budget, he vowed that the DepEd is ready to take on the challenge of sustainability of Internet connection.

He bared that he had instructed the DepEd budget chief to “make provisions to cover the Internet subscription fees and electricity charges” in the proposed budget for the beneficiary schools to sustain the program.

Though the department has built computer laboratories in more than 5,000 public high schools, it has not wired up any school.

There are more than 6,400 public high schools in the country.

Recently, Gilas accepted more than P20 million in cash donations and millions worth of free training, laptops and softwares from local government units, foreign donors and private companies. PNA

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