DepEd awaits DoJ opinion on cyber education

The Department of Education is just waiting for the justice department to issue a legal opinion on how to proceed with its ambitious “open and distance learning,” or cyber education project.

The government suspended the project last year after opposition legislators denounced it as another anomalous Chinese deal.

But now the project is apparently back on track. “It’s just a question of time, technology, costs, phasing, scale and social marketing,” said Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus.

But the DepEd needs the opinion from the Department of Justice because it wants to comply with the rules, said Lapus.

“That is why we still can’t proceed with the project’s supply contract and loan agreement,” said Lapus, adding that to date, no contracts and commitments have been negotiated.

The P26.4-billion high-tech initiative aims to bridge the learning gap between urban and rural schools by using satellite technology to beam televised lectures to students and teachers in far-flung areas nationwide.

The project has now dropped the cyber education name and is now called simply open and distance learning.

The government initially considered undertaking the program with the Chinese firm Tsinghua Tongfang Nuctech Company (Nuctech) and Tsinghua University.

Late last year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered the presidential task force on education to evaluate and revise the project in a bid to put it back on track. Jerry E. Esplanada - Philippine Daily Inquirer