Duterte plans to replace textbooks with tablets

President Duterte plans to order the Department of Education (DepEd) to accelerate digital and electronic learning for Filipino children, saying he would like to see tablets increasingly replace textbooks.

Similarly, the President said he wants government transactions, especially documentary applications, to be upgraded to online level.

The President expressed the two wishes upon his ar-

rival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City from Da Nang, Vietnam, yesterday morning.

“Sinabi ko na, online na lang (I said everything should be done online now). Passport, online. Clearances, online. Gamitin na ninyo because this is the digital age,” he said on his arrival before dawn.

Duterte expressed his wish that Filipino children learn and be functional with the growing technology this early.

“Ang pag-asa natin ay ang mga anak natin (Our children are our hope). So they have to learn the basics about cyberspace and everything to function well in digital age,” he said.

“And I will make that mandatory. Instead of textbooks, bibili na tayo ng digital tools for each of the children. Mag-aral na sila ngayon as early as possible (we will make available gadgets for the children. They should start learning about this technology as early as possible,” he added.

“Mandatory na sa lahat ng gobyerno – sa gobyerno (It is mandatory for our government functionalities to communicate digitally),” he said, “and to provide tools and, of course, learn how to use the computers and all things related to that technology.”

Duterte acknowledged that this plan would be expensive but vowed to find the money to make this a reality.

“And I will save enough money for this. It’s gonna be billions but I will save for something that is beneficial to our children,” he said.