DepEd, CHED urged to link with UN groups to enhance distance learning systems

Senator Francis Tolentino called on the government’s education agencies to tie up with international and private groups to enhance their existing distance learning systems.

"Why don't we take advantage of the existing platforms tailor-made by these international educational organizations? We must tie up with these big players para hindi na tayo mahirapan sa ating gagawing distance learning (We must tie up with these big players so we won’t have difficulty when we set up distance learning)," Tolentino said during a hearing of the House Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture.  

Tolentino criticized both the Department of Education (DepEd) and Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for failing to mention in past hearings their plans to adopt existing learning modalities from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and private groups.

"For instance, UNICEF has a learning passport supported by Microsoft to help the children of Ukraine, UNESCO has an institute for information technology and education to combat COVID-19 while Google has its Classroom that teachers can use to deliver learning materials to students," he said.

The senator said online platforms such as Skype, Zoom and Facebook would not suffice in the delivery of learning materials to students so DepEd and CHED must seek help from other groups.

"I am a bit worried baka sa unang dalawang linggo sumablay po tayo dito (I am a bit worried we might see failure in the first two weeks), not because of the lack of competencies on the part of the teachers who will perform this but due to the proper software that will be utilized. Ano po bang software ang gagamitin (What software will be used)?" he said.

Tolentino also asked the committee for a demonstration of distance learning modalities to be conducted two weeks before the scheduled start of classes on August 24.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones told Tolentino that her office is already speaking with both UNICEF and UNESCO.