Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday called on telecommunication companies to help the country’s education system adapt to the ‘new norma’ through installation cell sites in every public school in need of internet access.
“We hit two birds with one stone. Since most, if not all, barangays nationwide have a public school, these schools provide viable spots for cell sites that would ensure nationwide internet access,” Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, said.
“This proposal would also help accelerate the installation of free Wi-fi hotspots in the country’s public places, which would boost the capacity of schools to utilize distance learning in emergencies like the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic,” Gatchalian said.
According to him, building cell sites within school premises ensures that public schools have a good internet connection, and would save them billions of pesos in internet connection fees in the long run.
58 percent of elementary schools, 80 percent of junior high schools, and 72 percent of senior high schools are connected to the internet, according to the Department of Education (DepEd) data he cited.
However, he pointed out that based on a mapping of public schools and cell site towers by Project Bandwidth and Signal Statistics (BASS), 44 percent or 20,398 public schools were found to be located more than six kilometers away from the nearest cell site, which means they have either “very poor or no access to the internet.”
The ideal distance for a school to the closest cell site should not be more than three kilometers to get a good internet connection, the lawmaker said.
“Moving forward, kahit wala nang Covid-19, importante ring pagsikapan nating maabot ang bawat isang kabahayan gamit ang internet, at mabigyan natin ang mga bata ng kagamitan, mga gadgets, para magamit nila sa pag-aaral (even if Covid-19 is gone, it is also important that we endeavor to provide internet access to each household, and provide gadgets for our students for their education),” Gatchalian said.
“Bridging the digital divide will help the country’s education system to innovate and ensure that no learner is left behind,” he added.
