Essential support to education frontliners

Jocelyn R. Tablada

Teachers, personnel, schools, and field offices nationwide will be given laptops this month to provide essential support to education frontliners for the upcoming school year. Department of Education officials said the provision of internet-capable equipment to DepEd offices, schools, and teachers is great news for the education sector, and this would go a long way in the continued implementation of the Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan and in providing technical support to our field offices nationwide. The procurement of the laptops through the Department of Budget and ManagementProcurement Service (DBM-PS) was made possible by the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (Bayanihan II), the government’s second stimulus package to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency’s direction is to provide laptops for each teacher and DepEd offices. The Department recognizes that teachers who use their own devices bought these out of their own expense. It is still the responsibility of the state to provide government-issued laptops, officials said. The mandatory recipients for the Division and Regional offices are Implementing Units (UIs), Public Schools District Supervisors (PSDSs), Alternative Learning System (ALS) Mobile Teachers, and Regional and Division Coordinators under the Administration Strand. The laptops will be delivered by the supplier directly to the Regional Offices. The Regional Supply Officer will then identify the final list of recipients and take charge in releasing the allocated units of the Schools Division Offices. Furthermore, the names of beneficiaries will later be submitted to the respective regions and divisions by the CO-based concerned offices for reference. Regional and Schools Division Offices may organize simultaneous unboxing and training of laptop use through online webinars or face-to-face sessions, provided the required health protocols and social distancing are strictly observed.