Sara wants to replicate San Juan school’s fiber access

VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte wants to replicate San Juan City, which achieved a 1:1 teacher and student-gadget ratio in public schools.

The city has also installed fiber internet connection for all of its 13 public schools —another project that Duterte wants to adopt, ABS-CBN News reported.

But Duterte also admitted that the Department of Education (DepEd) was still leaning toward a “mixed” method of learning that both employs the traditional in-person learning and online classes because some areas do not have internet access.

“That’s the Department of Education’s dream for all our schools. But for now, our direction is mixed. There are schools whose locations do not have the capacity to access internet connection.,” Duterte, quoted by the ABS-CBN News report said.

The Vice President visited the Pinaglabanan Elementary School with San Juan Mayor Francis Zamora recently. The school, on the same day of Duterte’s visit, launched its fiber internet connection.

Asked if the DepEd will plan its own application for blended learning, Duterte said it “depends on our technical working group on the institutionalization of blended learning. What we will get is the best for our learners.”

Zamora, meanwhile, said the city utilized its special education fund (SEF) to provide gadgets and internet for all public school students and teachers.

He explained this was part of San Juan’s transition to being a “smart city”, which he said can be done in other parts of the country, ABS-CBN News further reported.

Zamora added he wanted San Juan to be a “leader in terms of digitalization.”