THE DEPARTMENT of Education teamed up with Microsoft and Grab Philippines for a mobile application that will assist poll workers during the elections.

“We have launched the DepEd Mobile Monitoring App that will aid us in making sure that all reports and information from our field offices are accessible. This is in addition to our new partners who will help us with the upcoming election. DepEd is very happy and confident about our preparations for this,” DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua said.

The app, first released in 2019, is a simplified and easy-to-understand teacher reporting mechanism that will provide accurate information gathering and consolidation for election-related issues. It also centralizes the monitoring and analysis of reports and enables accessible responses to problems in the field.

Accessible through the DepEd Commons using the DepEd email address, teachers can easily use the app without additional login and steps, making it readily accessible.

“The reports teachers need to make can be completed in five minutes or less,” Information and Communications Technology Services Director Abram Abanil said.

The app is also an added communication platform to fast track the information gathered in the field to the Central Office.

Abanil reported that in the last election, the DepEd Command Center received over 20,000 reports through the app — higher than the previous polls’ average of 1,000 reports through the traditional emails and phone calls.

Meanwhile, DepEd, through Secretary Leonor Briones, also forged a partnership with Microsoft to widen the platform for sending reports to the field.

Through MS Teams, DepEd can speed up communication from field precincts to the Central Office. Additionally, it will also have features where issues and concerns will be categorized as channels used by the DepEd Monitoring Channels.

In addition, Pascua shared that ride-hailing and delivery service Grab Philippines expressed its intent to partner with DepEd to provide services for election frontliners on Monday.

Pascua said Grab will prioritize DepEd teachers and personnel serving as members of the Election Task Force.

Grab will release a special code for ETF members which they can use when booking.