No signal, no future: Why we need smart schools

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.

We must do something about this. We don’t have to look far. We can take our cues from our neighbors – Singapore, Taiwan and Japan – which are integrating technology into education.

They have transformed traditional classrooms into smart learning environments. As smart schools, they utilize digital tools and data analytics to personalize learning, monitor student progress in real time and foster collaboration beyond geographical boundaries.

Did you know that Singapore’s smart schools employ integrated systems with smart IDs? These include data dashboards and digital platforms that allow teachers to track attendance, identify behavioral issues early and adjust teaching strategies based on real-time data. Such innovations have led to improved student engagement and academic performance.

To a certain extent, some private schools in the Philippines have already embraced smart systems, but we also need to see these in our public schools.

The Philippines has been slow to adopt similar technological advancements.

According to the Department of Information and Communications Technology, only 1.8 percent of public schools nationwide had access to free WiFi as of 2022, with significant disparities in connection quality and speed.

Furthermore, a 2020 report indicated that 80 percent of state universities and colleges had limited ICT infrastructure.

If we want our Filipino children to catch up with the rest of the world, we must embrace technology in our public schools.

Disconnected

Remember those lamentable scenes during the COVID-19 pandemic? Teachers and students had to climb rooftops or mountains in search of that elusive mobile signal.

Students struggled through their online classes using outdated phones, highlighting the digital divide that hampers effective learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed the vulnerabilities of the Philippine education system.

Some schools may be equipped with computer labs, but without an integrated ICT ecosystem, these schools are not able to maximize the potential benefits of technology in education.

It is important to note that having computer labs isn’t enough for a school to be considered a smart system.

It must also have a seamless integration of devices, data, platforms and people to support real-time learning and efficient school operations.

To achieve this, the Marcos administration must invest significantly in smart school systems – and this, in turn, would require significant investment in infrastructure, teacher training and curriculum redesign.

We need policy support and funding for this. We also need more public-private partnerships.

Otherwise, the stark reality remains: only our private schools can afford to upgrade into smart schools, further exacerbating educational inequalities.

Thus, as I said, the recent approval of 16,000 new teaching positions is a positive development, but it is not enough. It is even simplistic to think that this is all we need.

These efforts must be complemented by efforts to modernize the educational environment.

By embracing smart school systems, the Philippines can equip its students with the skills necessary to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital world.

It’s a dizzying and rapidly changing world out there.

We need evasive action now. We needed reforms yesterday, and we are already paying the price of neglect from decades past.

If we don’t invest in smart schools now, we will leave a generation of students ill-prepared for the demands not just of future employment but, more importantly, we will prevent them from reaching their full potential – from self-actualization.

And shouldn’t this be every parent’s goal for their children and every government’s goal for its citizens?

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Email: eyesgonzales@gmail.com. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.