Solon sees need for digital textbooks
A measure filed in the House of Representatives seeks to facilitate the digital transformation of students’ textbooks.
“It is no secret that textbooks in public elementary and high schools are limited in number and, as result, our students are forced to share or borrow from one another," said Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, author of House Bill (HB) No.8020.
"This difficulty is even more evident in the time of COVID-19 when there is a shift to blended or distance learning. The sharing of materials among groups of students still exists because of the shortage of printed modules," noted the former three-term provincial governor.
Also known as the proposed Book Publishing Industry Development Act (BPIDA), HB No.8020 institutionalizes the digitization of all contents used by publishers participating in the Public School Textbook Program (PSTP).
Villafuerte said requiring the digital reproduction of textbooks will allow students to have access to the contents of these learning materials in electronic format without having the need to borrow hard or physical copies from their classmates.
To protect the intellectual property rights of both the authors and publishers of the textbook, the solon said the implementation of the scanning or conversion must comply with the provisions of Republic Act (RA) No. 8293, otherwise known as the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines.
He said the e-books and digital format copies of the textbooks shall also be made available and accessible to all public school students “in a manner deemed appropriate and reasonable by the Department of Education (DepEd).”
Villafuerte has been a staunch advocate of digital transformation in Congress even before the COVID-19 pandemic changed the face of every day life in the Philippines and the world over.
He earlier filed HB No.1248 or the E-Government Act. The measure seeks to establish a contactless, electronic-based system of services in all government offices and state-run corporations.
The proposed law was meant to put flesh into President Duterte's pitch in July 2020 during his State-of-the-Nation Address to do away with paper-based official transactions and physical queueing in government offices amid the COVID-19 pandemic.