Year IV students’ blog for Internet Education

This project by the government of the UK is great for parents that want to track their kids in school. This would be a different story for students who will always conscious of their actions. If this will be adopted in our country, it would be good but there are a lot of problems that we shall encounter. First, not all of the Filipinos can afford to buy a computer set. Even though computers are much cheaper today, it is still expensive. Second, most Filipinos are computer illiterate. This would mean that it will take them a lot of time to learn how to use the computer. Last, it would be a hassle for the school personnel to manage the work. It would give them more work instead of focusing on their classes. If I were a congressman, I wouldn’t suggest this project. In public schools, there are more than 50 students in a one section. If we are to monitor each of them, it would be very difficult. There is also a problem of having the government to spend too much on this project. Maybe this project will be more better if we do this when we have the money for this big project.

Being a student at the present time, I know how difficult for a parent to keep up with their children’s grades. The most common reason for this is that parents are usually occupied by their work which causes them to have a short time to spend with their children. This innovation is quite interesting, but for a third world country like the Philippines, not everybody has a hold for a computer or access to the internet and maybe worse not everyone knows how to use a computer.

If parents really love they children, they will make time just to spend their lives with them. For those parents that are busy with their work, they could propose a system that will work for both them and their children, like asking their kids to write down the scores they got in every exam and leave it on the table and to check for honesty, check it again during your free time or on weekends. And for parents that is not too pre-occupied by their work, they could get the contact numbers of their children’s teachers and ask them to have a rundown of their kids grades. Spending time with your children is a requirement as a parent and a promise made by every parent in the world.

First of all I don’t agree with the project because of the following reasons:

1. Lack of PCs and internet connection in the average Filipino household. There is a lack of PCs and internet connection in the Philippines because we are a third-world country. Why should people have computers with internet connections if they are already having a hard time providing food for their family. One of the last things they should worry about is a computer that has an internet connection.
2. Low computer literacy among the majority of the population especially among older generations; As I was saying, since the Philippines is a poor country with not the best education. Public schools are having a hard time teaching high school students basic English and now they should teach them how to properly use a computer?
3. Teachers’ complaints that it might mean more work for them. This is very true. Public teachers are already underpaid and over-worked they don’t need more load on their backs.

All I’m saying is that we should prioritize. It could be possible to make this project optional for the parents for a number schools that can afford to do it. But even this can separate the small time parents and children meet in a day which, in turn, makes the parent-child relationship weaker and more distant. This project would not be practical for the Filipinos because we are not first-world countries.

For me, if the UK Project will be imposed to the Philippine Educational System, it will do us a lot of good. Having computers and internet connection will be very beneficial to all users because as we all know, internet is a gateway to information– worldwide. Regarding the low computer literacy among our population, I think that everyone needs to learn how to use it anyway. Computers nowadays are means of communication, so learning how to use one is (again), beneficial to you.

Lastly, I think that this will be a positive project for the teachers because meeting some parents may not be necessary anymore. Or, meeting the parents will take a shorter time. So, this is not actually a problem for them because it is less time consuming.

If this will be done in the Philippines, I hope that it will be implemented in the right way because I think that it would really advantageous to our educational system.

The first problem is that internet access and computers are not common in the average Filipino household- the urban poor. Accessibility from home is not a practical thing as: most Filipinos are probably computer illiterate and they have no computers of their own. To get to take advantage of this new system will be harder on us than in other more prosperous nations. One thing we do have though are extremely cheap internet cafes. For several years now, these “shops” have provided the less privileged the opportunity to connect to the world wide web. For as low as 10 pesos for 20 minutes of use, I think a parent can check up on his/her child’s grades.

The main problem with this system is that most people are computer illiterate. This means that they have to be taught how to use the internet. I don’t think doing so is very difficult as they can ask for help from people who do know. They can just walk in a shop and ask for help. As they get more exposed, they’d be more knowledgeable about it.

I hardly think that this new system would mean more work for the teachers. They simply just have to give their grades and instead of meeting each set of parents, they’d simply have to put it online. I believe it’s just as tedious as meeting with everyone.

In the United Kingdom, parents will soon be able to track their kids’ grades 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Instead of setting up appointments with teachers, which is not always easy especially for working parents, grades can be sent and received via e-mail and other electronic means.

By 2010, the electronic grade reporting system will be operational in all primary schools. By 2012, secondary schools will implement the same.

Read the reports in:

1. BBC
2. Times
3. Guardian
4. and Mirror

Now, let’s say you are a member of Congress. You want to adopt the same system in the Philippines because it is time-efficient, it will entail less use of paper (save the trees!), it will save fuel (less commuting to and from school) and parents will be able to monitor the progress of their children’s school work even on a day-to-day basis. You want to propose a law. How will you address the following issues?

1. Lack of PCs and internet connection in the average Filipino household;
2. Low computer literacy among the majority of the population especially among older generations;
3. Teachers’ complaints that it might mean more work for them.

Write an article (post it in this blog) discussing your solutions to the three issues above, and any additional issues that you deem important. Include your proposals for sources of funds.

If there are questions or clarifications, I am online on YM. My account is antipolo_gurl.