Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday disclosed he is considering filing a proposed law that would provide students universal access to laptops and Internet connectivity.

Gatchalian said there is an urgent need to provide every public school student with laptop and access to Internet for a more efficient and equitable distribution of learning materials.

The senator made the call after a recently released Southeast Asia-wide study on the learning outcomes of Grade 5 students in 2019 revealed that around 20 percent of learners in the Philippines share textbooks making it difficult for them to learn.

With schools due to reopen until a vaccine for COVID-19 is found and as authorities plan to continue with distance learning, he said it is imperative to ensure the availability of digital formats, distributed through the Internet and accessed by the students through their laptops.

“Kung mabibigyan natin ang bawag mag-aaral ng laptop at Internet connection, magiging mas madali pa para sa pamahalaan ang magpamahagi ng mga aklat kung nasa digital format na ang mga ito (If we can give each learner a laptop and Internet connection, it would be easy for the government to distribute books in digital format),” Gatchalian said.

“Mahalaga ang ganitong mga hakbang upang masigurong lubos na natututo ang mga estudyante (These measures are important to ensure that our students can properly learn),” he pointed out.

Citing the study of the Center for Educational Measurement (CEM) on the results of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the lawmaker said the proportion of learners without computers and Internet is much higher in the lower proficiency groups compared to higher proficiency groups.

He also said the same study revealed that around 60 percent of Filipino learners who participated in the PISA did not have access to computers and WiFi at home.

Results of the 2018 PISA also showed that out of 79 countries, the Philippines ranked lowest in terms of Reading Comprehension and second lowest in Mathematics and Science.

“Sa pagbangon n gating sector ng edukasyon mula sa pinsalang dulot ng COVID-19, kailangan siguruhin natin na hindi na kinakapos an gating mga mag-aaral sa mga aklat at iba pang mga learning materials tulad ng lumabas sa ulan ng SEA-PLM 2019 (as our education sector tries to rise above the damage brought about by COVID-19, we need t make sure that our students are not deprived of books ad other learning materials as what was disclosed by the SEA-PLM in 2019,” he stressed.

According to Gatchalian, the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2019 had earlier released a study that more than two learners share textbooks sometimes. The study also reveals the consistent relationship between textbook availability and higher average achievement in Reading, Writing and Math.

The Department of Education (DepEd) also reported that of the 22 million public learners in the country, only 1.9 million have access to laptops and 3.6 million have Internet access.