No signal, no future: Why we need smart schools

EYES WIDE OPEN

- IRIS GONZALES

Taking off from my previous column, which tackled the Gokongwei Group's efforts in improving education in the country through the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation, today, my pitch is for the Marcos administration to implement systemic reforms in education using technology.

How about modernizing the learning environment? In short, how about smart schools?

I think about this as another school year comes to an end and a new one approaches.

We all know that the Philippines faces a dual crisis in education: a significant shortage of teachers and alarmingly low literacy rates among students.

These challenges underscore the urgent need for systemic reforms in the country's educational infrastructure. Our schools and systems are lagging far behind our peers in the region.

The Marcos administration, through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), has approved the creation of 16,000 new teaching positions to address the manpower gap in public schools. This comes amid a recent study by the Philippine Statistics Authority which revealed that millions of Filipinos struggle with basic reading comprehension.

Modernizing the learning environment Increasing the number of teachers is a step in the right direction.

However, it is equally crucial to modernize the learning environment to enhance educational outcomes.

What do I mean by this? By now, our traditional classrooms should already be smart learning environments.

This was not what I saw when I went out to vote last May 12. The public school classroom which served as our precinct wasn't even conducive to learning — not even as a traditional classroom.