CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan. FILE PHOTO
MANILA — The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has forged a partnership with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) that will allow teachers at higher education institutions to work on various ICT projects in 2017.
The agreement opens up a total of 86 slots for college and university teachers through the Sectoral Engagement (SE) Grants under CHEd’s K-12 Transition Program, according to CHEd Chair Patricia Licuanan.
“With the expertise of our faculty and staff, we are confident that this partnership will make significant progress in strengthening ICT capacities across the country,” she said during the recent ceremonial signing of the partnership with DICT.
Licuanan added that the educators who would participate in the various projects could build on such experience, enabling them to better train and inspire students to use their skills for nation-building.
The K-12 Transition Program is a five-year effort aimed at supporting HEIs and personnel during the transition period for the K-12 education reform program through institutional grants and scholarships for master’s, doctoral and non-degree programs.
Under the partnership, selected grantees will help in the development of DICT projects, which includes the Free Wi-Fi Internet Access in Public Places Project, and work in the National ICT Training Division (NTD) and the Competency Standards and Certifications Management Division (CSCM).
Licuanan said faculty members should have a background in ICT-related disciplines such as computer science, information technology or computer engineering to be able to qualify for the grant.
The SE Grants immerses faculty and staff in government, civil society and industry in a bid to align faculty instruction with current field practice. Grantees are given support through a monthly allowance for the entire duration of the program.
The DICT will deploy faculty-grantees with command of the local language to conduct trainings on courseware content in municipalities identified as beneficiares of the Free Wifi Project, according to CHEd
The department is also in need of experts at NTD to update and develop ICT trainings at par with ICT-enabled industries and academic institutions. SFM/rga