The Department of Education (DepEd) is set to implement this year the second phase of the Public Education Network (PEN) program which aims to address the problems of connecting schools to the internet.

DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua explained that the second phase of PEN which is about “P700 million-worth of connectivity program” will be set into motion this 2021.  

“We will be connecting the Last Mile Schools via satellite connection and this connection would entail or would provide our teachers and our learners connectivity through the internet even if they are in the mountains - that’s one of our targets this year,” Pascua said in an online press conference in Negros Oriental this week. 

PEN is a program in collaboration between DepEd, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Transmission Corporation (TransCo).

The creation of PEN is in line with President Duterte’s directive during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July 2020 to “connect all schools and DepEd offices nationwide.”

Pascua noted that the PEN includes the prioritization of “Last Mile Schools” by providing them access to electricity and the internet.

PEN, Pascua said, has started in 2018 - when the connectivity program of the DepEd was initiated. “It was continuously developed until the final framework was finalized with the collaboration from DICT and TransCo,” he added.

Pascua said that PEN aims to “modernize education system and make Filipino graduates more competitive in the international market.”

It is also considered as an investment that is “needed to respond to the growing challenges of a world that has grown more unpredictable and uncertain” and will serve as a foundation for the next generation of Filipino leaders.

“Soon we will be realizing the establishment of the Public Education Network - where all schools and all offices will be connected via the Internet and via all available technologies,” Pascua added.