SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday pushed for the swift adoption of technology in the delivery of education.

The senator made the statement after Valenzuela Live Online Streaming School or Valenzuela LIVE — a project in the city where he hailed from — was recognized as an outstanding local governance program in this year’s Galing Pook Awards.

Valenzuela Live utilizes the “live” feature of social networking platform Facebook to stream classes amid the Covid19 pandemic.

The Valenzuela City School of Mathematics and Science serves as an off-site classroom. Information technology moderators and technicians are also available on site to provide support to teachers.

The city government also distributed tablets to learners who do not have devices to watch the live classes being streamed.

Gatchalian said that recovery efforts should prioritize closing the nationwide digital divide to strengthen the basic education sector.

He also pressed for teacher education and training to ensure readiness for online learning.

To help foster universal access to the internet, Gatchalian filed Senate Bill 2250 or the Satellite-Based Technologies for Internet Connectivity Act of 2021.

The measure seeks to allow government organizations, public and non-profit private institutions and volunteer organizations engaged in education, health, finance, agriculture, environmental management, climate change management, disaster preparedness and crisis response to own and operate satellite-based technology to aid and augment their activities.

“Nakita natin ngayong panahon ng pandemya na ang teknolohiya ay dapat maging bahagi na ng ating sistema ng edukasyon. Kaya naman sa ating pagtaguyod sa pagbangon ng sektor ng edukasyon, ating tiyakin na bawat mag-aaral at guro ay may access na sa internet upang magamit sa kanilang pagtuturo at pag-aaral,” said Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture.