GILAS
The Iguig Public High School up the mountains of the northern province of Cagayan does not look much different from other public high schools around the country. It lacks classrooms, teachers, and books. Its mostly poor students have to make do with old or obsolete education materials.
But Iguig is still luckier than most.
Thanks to the Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access (GILAS) program, Iguig's students are learning how to send email and cruise the information highway, putting them firmly on their way to harnessing the power of the Internet.
Iguig joins over 1,000 public high schools that have been connected to the worldwide web—and brings GILAS closer to realizing its vision to reach all 5,900 public secondary schools by 2010.
For the many students that rely on inadequate and antiquated resources, that vision cannot turn into reality soon enough.
While computers and Internet connection have become so much a part of the life of high school students in developed countries, less than two out of five public high schools in the Philippines have laboratories with computers that students can use and only one in 10 of these facilities is connected to the Internet.
Such a grim situation did not sit well with private firms and government agencies that agree on the need for a powerful and efficient tool to address the education gap among the country's youth. This became the common rallying point of the public and private sectors.
GILAS was launched in January 2005 with Senator Manuel Roxas II and Ayala Corporation CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II as working co-chairs of a steering committee composed of representatives from leading companies in the Philippines . These include key IT players (Apple, Microsoft, SPI Technologies, Integrated Microelectronics), all the major telecommunications companies (Globe/Innove, PLDT/Smart, BayanTel, and Digitel), civic and donor organizations (Philippine Business for Social Progress, American Chamber of Commerce, Makati Business Club), and media partners (GMA Network, Philippine Star).
The Secretary of Education serves as honorary vice-chair of the GILAS steering committee while the Department of Trade and Industry is represented for the landmark PCs for Public Schools Program championed by Sen. Roxas when he was Trade Secretary.
For schools that already have working computer laboratories, GILAS provides Internet connectivity packages and basic training for teacher on how to impact Internet literacy skills to students. Those without existing facilities are given computers as part of the package. GILAS provides unlimited Internet access to the schools for one year.
Such an ambitious undertaking requires funding but according to Oscar R. Sañez, marketing director of GILAS for Ayala Foundation, GILAS continues to get support from corporate and individual sponsors here and abroad. Successful overseas Filipinos in particular have donated to GILAS as a way of giving back to their home country.
Even local government units are getting in on the act.
Local government leaders have partnered with GILAS by providing counterpart funds to facilitate the connection of the public high schools in their provinces. Their commitment to sustain the program well after its first year has been a crucial element to the success of GILAS.
With such support coming in, Sañez says GILAS is ready to more than double its efforts this year from connecting 30 to 40 schools to as many as 80 to 90 schools a month.
The road ahead is paved with new challenges.
Sañez explains that it is easier to connect the first 1,000 because the focus has been on schools that either have computer laboratories in place or are in the vicinity of urban center where connections can be provided quickly. Many public schools may not be as accessible and some may not even have electricity.
Then there are the technological challenges. Because of the distance and weather conditions, many schools will not be connected to the Internet by just hooking them up to the nearest broadband line. Or it may simply be too expensive to install a telephone line to a school that is hundreds of kilometers away from the urban center.
In the case of Iguig, the school was too far from the nearest hub and so GILAS used a wireless technology developed by a group of engineers from the University of the Philippines to bring Internet connection to the students.
The challenges are indeed daunting but together under GILAS, private corporations, government agencies, non-government organizations, local government units, and individuals are ready to take them on. The future of our public school students depend on it.
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