The Department of Education (DepEd) reiterated its commitment to addressing the challenges in digital learning and education technology through its Digital Rise Program.

“We have come a long way, and we have learned a lot from the pandemic, but the greatest takeaway from this past year is that we have to be willing, flexible, and embrace technology,” Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said.

The Digital Rise Program, spearheaded by Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua through the directives of Briones, is an educational framework that anchors the infrastructure, software, and capacity building of learners and teachers in technology.

DepEd Information and Communications Technology Service (ICTS) Abram Y.C Abanil explained that the Digital Rise Program has three major components.

First of these components is the Digital Literacy, where the K to 12 curriculum is updated to include productivity tools like Word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations for Grade 4 to Grade 6.

Grade 7 learners will have basic programming skills subject while Grades 8 to 10 will have multimedia concepts as a subject focusing on video editing and graphics design.

Lastly, vocational skills like computer servicing, technical drafting, and broadband installation are assigned to Senior High School students.

Through its second component, the ICT Assisted Teaching, DepEd aims to provide teachers with equipment, software content, and skills for their daily classroom teaching.

The program also envisions providing laptops, smart TVs, and lapel speakers to each teacher and classroom.

Lastly, the ICT Assisted Learning for learners component of the program aims to grant access and adaptability through DepEd Learning Management System (DLMS) and synchronous blended learning.

DepEd also provided laptops and tablets to learners and teachers and the continuation of the Public Education Network through the DepEd Computerization Program.

Likewise, DepEd also partnered with Microsoft and Google to continuously provide software to its stakeholders.

The DepEd Commons, Learning Resources Portal, and the DLMS are some of the platforms where learners and teachers can access DepEd contents like the self-learning modules, DepEd TV, and DepEd Radio episodes.

Meanwhile, DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio expressed hope that teachers and fellow education leaders in learning will know “how else we can provide better educational experiences for the youngsters of the Philippines who need to become able 21st-century citizens.”