Nation
Written by Alma Anonas-Carpio / Correspondent
Friday, 07 November 2008 00:33

SOME P20 million in cash and millions of pesos more in donations in kind poured into the Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (Gilas) project at the recent donors’ pledging meeting in Makati of the nation’s top companies, local government units (LGUs) and those from overseas.

The gifts were turned over to Education Secretary Jesli Lapus in simple ceremonies to mark the third year of the Gilas mission to connect 6,400 public high schools to the Internet. So far, the project has connected to the worldwide web a little over 2,000 schools, benefiting some 2 million students with access to online educational resources that fill the gaps left by the lack of educational materials that plague many public schools.

“This connectivity and improved access to educational materials is vital to ensuring that the country’s public- school students—some 90 percent of the country’s—will be equipped to compete in an increasingly globalized environment,” said Lapus.

Ayala Corp. CEO and Gilas cochairman Jaime Zobel de Ayala said at a press conference that, “We believe that [Internet connectivity and computer literacy] is important for the youth today.”

Ayala Foundation president Victoria Garchitorena said, “Anyone with no computer-literacy skills will not be competitive in the work force. We came together and decided to look at one specific program that will improve the quality of education in the public-school system. Gilas was conceived as a very strategic nationwide program, with scale that will make an impact on the future of these kids.” The Ayala Foundation manages the Gilas secretariat.

Before Gilas was launched in 2005, only 6 percent of the 5,434 public high schools then were connected to the Internet. Now, roughly 32 percent of 6,400 public high schools are hooked up to the Net, with schools in over 34 provinces and cities declared 100 percent connected.

“Our focus for now is to get those public high schools connected,” Ayala said, adding that the 6,400 public high schools “may increase over time, but we will do our best....It is our commitment to continue this process.”

Having Internet access “helps us when we do our assignments and research because we can access worldwide information,” said Bobontugan National High School senior Carmela Ibayo. “We can also research on topics of our interest and read news from around the world.”

Gilas also trains teachers from these beneficiary schools to maximize the use of the Internet as a learning resource, as well as how to use preventive maintenance to maximize use of the computers. Some 9,100 teachers have received the necessary information and communications technology training as of October 31.

Christopher Castillejos, a teacher at Mahato National High School at the windswept island of Batanes, said his students “were very excited when the Internet came to our school. They enjoy going to the computer lab. They are able to access more information about our lectures and the fun thing is that they are all able to see it from their computer screens.”

The donations, in terms of counterpart funding, from LGUs, include the following: P150,000 from the local government of Pangasinan; P300,000 from Panabo City for the Internet access of all Panabo public high schools; P254,000 from Alaminos Mayor Hernani Braganza, of P1.7 million pledged by Braganza to connect all Alaminos public high schools to the information superhighway; and P300,000 from the provincial government of Ilocos Sur. A total of P10,130,000 in counterpart funds were donated by public officials to Gilas.

Private-sector donors included the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Foundation, which gave P600,000 of its pledge of P1.8 million to connect all public high schools in Quezon province to the Internet; JP Morgan Chase, which donated P1.5 million to connect five public high schools in Pampanga to the net; P3.2 million from Mitsubishi Corp. and; PP3.18 million from telecommunications firm Globe Telecom to hook 111 more public high schools in Mindanao to the Internet and add to the 957 public high schools the telco has already provided with Internet access in the country’s largest island.

The Ayala Foundation donated P3 million, the final tranche of its pledge to provide P12 million for Gilas for 2008.

Lapus batted for “subsidy for an academic rate” for Internet subscriptions paid by schools, noting that, because of budget constraints, some Gilas schools “had to drop their Internet subscriptions.”

Lapus also said the subsidy for a discounted subscription fee by Internet service providers “can be made as a donation to our Adopt-a-School program and (be) tax deductible.”

* Published by the Business Mirror newspaper. Getting this story made me feel good - not just about getting the story itself, which is good copy, but because the report talks about a concerted public-private sector effort to upgrade the skills of our country's public high school students to empower them to be competitive in a global economy. Donations to the GILAS fund need not be large and can be gathered by communities and employees as well and turned over to the Ayala Foundation for the GILAS program. I think this is worth everyone's time and money. Don't you? See www.gilas.org for more information on how to give to GILAS.