A vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations has urged the 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) to use the P3-billion allocation under Republic Act 11494 to fast-track the integration of digital technologies into their learning and administrative systems.
Makati City Rep. Luis Jose Angel N. Campos Jr., said Congress has earmarked that amount in fresh funding to enable “smart campuses” for the SUCs.
According to Campos, the new appropriations seek “to help SUCs quickly develop digitally connected campuses where devices and applications create new experiences that benefit students, faculty and their surrounding communities.”
“Students may soon be able to attend classroom lectures remotely from the comfort of their dormitory rooms and use their smartphones to access their grades, pay for meals in campus and borrow books from the library,” the lawmaker said.
Campos also noted that in the National Expenditure Program for 2021, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is spending another P309 million to upgrade the password-free Internet networks of SUCs.
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) earlier said that only 20 percent of SUCs are equipped to conduct online classes. Some 1.3 million students are currently enrolled in all SUCs.