To help its personnel transition into the “new normal” - where there is greater dependence on technology and internet connectivity - the Department of Education (DepEd) will give connectivity load to teachers and other staff that could last for months.

“We will provide all teachers, all personnel of DepEd, a three-month connectivity load of about 100 gigabytes,” Education Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua during an online press con in Negros Oriental this week.

Pascua said that this will greatly help both the teaching and non-teaching personnel of DepEd especially at a time of pandemic where the public is advised to stay inside their homes.

“This is like spending one gigabyte of connectivity every day,” Pascua said. “Given this, you can join virtual conferences for eight hours in a day, you can watch Youtube channels for 8 hours a day using the one gigabyte,” he explained.

Pascua also noted that if the teachers or other DepEd personnel will not use the 100 gigabytes very often, “it will roll over for the next six months.”

“This is what we will be giving to our teachers and employees DepEd soon,” Pascua said - noting that this is already “under procurement this month.”

Since the implementation of the distance learning set-up this school year (SY) 2020-2021, teachers groups have been urging DepEd to provide communication allowance for teachers and other education personnel.

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines, in several statements issued over the past few months, have been urging DepEd to provide communication allowance to teachers since they are “spending their own money” for distance learning-related expenses.