SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian filed Senate Bill 383 or the Digital Transformation of Basic Education Act to accelerate the digital transformation of the basic education sector.

Under the measure, the Department of Education shall mandate all schools to enhance and strengthen their Information and Communication Technologies capacity to implement distance learning.

The Department of Science and Technology will assist the DepEd and the Department of Information and Communications Technology on the use of science, technology, and innovation to improve traditional teaching and learning processes and boost the basic education sector towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“What if we have school cancellation for two weeks? Our learners should have some form of alternative delivery of education and those should be institutionalized and our teachers should be capacitated. We have to prepare ourselves for any eventuality for teachers to continue to teach and our learners to continue to learn. That’s a reality we have to face,” Gatchalian said.

“That’s why we have to make this a formal policy already, maybe through a law that will enable our learners to continue to learn and enable our teachers to continue to teach,” Gatchalian said.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education earlier filed Proposed Senate Resolution No. 689 which seeks an inquiry on the readiness of basic education institutions for Academic Year 2023-2024.

The proposed inquiry seeks an immediate assessment of the effectiveness and challenges of delivering face-to-face classes and learning through alternative delivery modes.