Conclusion on ICT capabilities of School year 2001

Conclusion on survey of ICT capabilities of School year 2001

At the national level, a little more than half of all elementary and secondary schools in
the country (66.07%) is ready for ICT if the main criterion is electrical connection, this
being a primary indicator for ICT-readiness. However, a very small number of schools
(only 4,866 or 13.30%) have access to the Internet and enjoy the many benefits that
this facility can provide especially for education. At the time of this survey, only 726
schools have Internet access. This constitutes barely 15% of the number of schools
with access to communication facilities, and a mere 3% of schools with electricity.

If schools in the country are asked to shift from their traditional and conventional
“chalk and talk” style of teaching to the more ICT- and multimedia-based teaching,
then only a handful would be able to do so. This is because, based on this survey, not
even half of all schools own a radio cassette as only 42.22% indicated that they have
such an equipment in their school. A little more than one-fourth (26.80%) of all schools
have television sets to be able to access educational programs in TV and still even less
have VHS players (17.19%) and VCD players (3.67%) to benefit from the many
educational materials now becoming more available in the market in the mentioned
format.

The benefits that a computer and access to Internet can provide can only be
enjoyed by 5,217 or 14.28% schools in the country, and by 726 or 13.92% of schools
with computers, respectively.

There are many indications that school heads and school staff are trying to equip
themselves with the skills necessary for them to cope with the changing demands in
education. This is particularly true in two regions (Region IV and NCR) where results
show that there are more schools with staff proficient in computer use, than there are
schools with computers.

Such is the condition of our elementary and secondary schools in the country today in
terms of ICT readiness. Thus, a lot more resources need to be poured in if in the near
future the use of ICT in education is to become a national policy in education.