THE DEPARTMENT of Education, thorough its Information and Communications Technology Service, reported the milestones of its Digital Rise Program as it continues to address the challenges in digital learning and education technology.

Spearheaded by Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua, the Digital Rise Program is an educational framework anchored on the infrastructure, software, and capacity building of learners and teachers in technology.

A report presented by ICTS Director Abram Abanil said the program has three major components.

The first is 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, the DepEd said.

Moreover, 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, according to DepEd.

The ICT Assisted Learning for learners component of the program aims to grant access and adaptability through DepEd Learning Management System and synchronous blended learning.

“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 Briones said.

The department 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.