INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Education Undersecretary Kris Ablan warned potential suppliers of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Computerization Program (DCP) to ensure that the laptops teachers and learners would use are in running condition for at least three years.
The DCP is a project intended to provide public schools with information and communication technology (ICT) packages to address the needs of the K-12 curriculum and raise the ICT literacy of learners, teachers, and school heads.
“Some of our laptops are already faulty in less than two years… If you’re going to brag that you have mobile repair units, make sure that you really have those,” he said during the suppliers and stakeholders forum of the agency at Oranbo Elementary School in Pasig City on Tuesday.
The meeting was part of DepEd’s effort to improve the procurement process for accountability, transparency, and “more efficient use of public people’s money.”
The DepEd laid out the general requirements and technical specifications of the products they are planning to procure under DCP such as the devices’ processor speed, memory capacity, and application software.
Laura Peralta, a Grade 6 science and Filipino teacher, pointed out that despite returning to full in-person classes, they still “badly need” laptops and smart TVs to enhance the teaching and learning process.
“Gone are the days when there [were] Manila papers everywhere,” Peralta said in the same forum, adding that the gadgets were a big help both for teachers like her and the students.
While useful in her teaching duties, she said the laptop provided by the local government was quite slow when she downloads videos and prepares PowerPoint presentations.