ICT Month seen to boost digital transformation

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

SENATOR Sherwin T. Gatchal- ian, moving to boost the nationwide observance of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) month, sought to ramp up the digital transformation of the country’s basic education sector.

Outlining his proposal for Congress to pass the Digital Transformation of Basic Education Act embodied in Senate Bill 383, the senator said the proposed law aligns with the mandate of Republic Act 10929 (Free Internet Access in Public Places Act).

The proposed measure mandates the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to accelerate the installation, deployment and activation of free public Wi-Fi in all public basic education institutions.

During last year’s deliberations on the 2023 national budget, Gatchalian flagged that only 1.8 percent or only 860 public schools of the country’s 47,421 public schools have free public Wi-Fi as of September 2, 2022. This is according to the Free Public Wi-Fi Dashboard. The lawmaker also reiterated how the digital divide hit hardest on learners from low-income households during the Covid-19 pandemic. A 2021 World Bank survey on low-income households revealed that only 40 percent have access to the internet. The same survey also revealed that 95.5 percent of these households used paper-based learning modules and materials.

To escalate the building of the national infrastructure for ICT, the bill also mandates the National Telecommunications Commission to iden-