NORTHERN ZAMBALES COLLEGE, INC.

Masinloc, Zambales
2nd Semester, A.Y. 2019-2020
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY II (ED TECH 2)
12:00 PM– 3:00 PM/FRIDAY/ROOM A105

Lesson 4: OVERVIEW of ICT and TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION in the PHILIPPINES

I. INTRODUCTION:
In today’s knowledge-based economy, the competitiveness of a country depends
on the efficiency of its information and communications technology (ICT) sector. As
such, the Philippines needs to have a reliable ICT infrastructure and an ICT-competent
workforce to keep up with the digital economy. 
Information and Communication technology (ICT) has become and will continue
to be an integral part of the day-to-day life of every Filipino across all levels of our
society. Information has always played a vital role in our history. Over the ages, people
have used to gain a more accurate picture of their current situation, make better
decisions for the future, and improve the quality of their lives. But never has
information been more accessible and more widespread than today.

II. INFORMATION and COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

ICT stand for INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES and is

defined, as a "diverse set of technological tools and resources used to communicate, and
to create, disseminate, store, and manage information." ICT implies the technology
which consists of electronic devices and associated human interactive materials that
enable the user to employ them for a wide range of teaching - learning processes in
addition to personal use.

We are drowning in a flood of data, with ICT changing our ways of doing things and
learning. We could imagine having access to a huge database where we collect every
detailed measure of every student's academic performance drilling down to every
answer he/she makes to an exam question, and add to these are information on the
students (from the socio-economic profile of his/her family, to his teachers, to whether
or not he/she supplements classroom learning with Internet online learning).

This data could be used to design the most effective approaches to education, starting
from reading, writing, and mathematics, to advanced college courses. While we don’t
have this database yet, but little by little, we are getting there.

The increasing access to the Internet and social media has been phenomenal.

We are Social, an agency that examines social media data, suggests that as of end of
2014, about 42% of the world’s population had access to the internet, and the online
social networking application Facebook registered 1.4 billion active users.
It has also been reported that in the PH, as of January 2014, there were 37.6 million
Internet users, of which 34 million were on Facebook. Thus, one in every three Filipinos
were on Facebook. Social media is also making various information available to us in
various formats.

We are drowning in a flood of data, with ICT providing us the means to transmit and
exchange data in the form of sound, text, visual images, signals or any other form or any
combination of those forms through the use of digital technology.

From the beginning of recorded time until 2003, we created 5 exabytes of data (one
exabyte is a billion gigabytes). In 2012, five exabytes were being created every two days;
in 2013, this amount of information was being created every ten minutes. ICT has
resulted in revolutionizing the way people communicate and for governments and firms
to interact and conduct business.

The ICT revolution, most specifically the Internet, has altered the ways people around
the world communicate, live, learn, play and work. Even in restaurants, we find menus
now being put on tablets for our convenience, and waiters entering our food choices on
gadgets.

With the Philippines getting the attention in the world as one of Asia’s fastest growing
economies, the presence of a reliable, accessible and affordable Philippine ICT
infrastructure is necessary for our participation in the information economy. Without it,
the Philippines will once again face the prospect of being marginalized in the global
economy. With it, we stand the chance of becoming a cyber-tiger in the new economy.

ICT access and usage in the Philippines

The ITU showed that in 2013, the Philippines practically maintained its rank (103 rdplace
from 102nd in 2012) despite advances in the areas of access and use of ICT. The country’s
ICT connectivity was further improved through the installation of the Boracay-Palawan
Submarine Cable System completed in the second quarter of 2013.

Of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Philippines

consistently ranked 6th since 2010, trailing behind Singapore, Brunei Darussalam,
Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Internet usage slightly increased in 2013. There were around 37 percent of the
population accessing the Internet, up from 36.2 percent in 2012. This landed the
Philippines in 5th place vis-à-vis ASEAN neighbors.

Fixed-broadband subscription per 100 population exhibited remarkable increase to 9.12

per 100 persons in 2013 from 0.14 in 2005. Broadband has been successful building a
healthy subscriber base in the country. The increase, however, is on a downward trend.
Surprisingly, the Philippines placed second among ASEAN member nations, only
trailing behind Singapore.

Available data from ITU show that in 2010, at least 13 in every 100 households in the
Philippines had access to a computer, higher than Cambodia’s 9.3. Singapore and
Malaysia is considerably higher at 85 and 65 households with a computer.

Meanwhile, in 2010, only 10.1 percent among the households in the Philippines has
Internet access, even lower compared to 12.5 in Vietnam. Of course, the information
from the Philippines is sourced from a 2010 survey, whereas other countries are more
recent.

The relatively weak uptake of ICT services in the Philippines, aside from inadequate ICT
infrastructure, can be attributed to relative high cost associated with it. In comparison
with ASEAN neighbor countries, ICT services in the Philippines are among the highest.

Networked Readiness Index

This month, the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with INSEAD, published
the Global Information Technology Report 2015 which allows countries to catch a
glimpse of the current market conditions as well the state of connectivity across the
world. It also helps identify areas of improvement to maximize the full potential of the
Internet and other innovations in the ICT sector.

The report estimates the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), which rests on six
principles:

1. A high-quality regulatory and business environment is critical in order to fully

leverage ICTs and generate impact;
2. ICT readiness – as measured by ICT affordability, skills, and infrastructure – is a
pre-condition to generating impact;
3. Fully leveraging ICTs requires a society-wide effort: the government, the
business sector, and the population at large each have a critical role to play;
4. ICT use should not be an end in itself. The impact that ICTs actually have on the
economy and society is what ultimately matters;
5. The set of drivers – the environment, readiness, and usage – interact, co-evolve,
and reinforce each other to form a virtuous cycle; and
6. The networked readiness framework should provide clear policy guidance.

The index is a composite indicator made up of four main sub-indexes, with 10

subcategories or pillars and 53 individual indicators.
Environment Readiness sub- Usage sub-index Impact sub-index
sub-index index

Political and Infrastructure Individual usage Economic impacts

regulatory
environment - Electricity - Mobile phone - Impact of ICTs on
production, subscriptions/100 new services &
- Effectiveness kWh/capita pop. products
of law-making
bodies - Mobile - Individuals using - ICT PCT patents,
network Internet, % applications/million
- Laws relating coverage, % pop.
to ICTs pop - Households w/
personal computer, - Impact of ICTs on
- Judicial - Int’l Internet % new organizational
independence bandwidth, models
kb/s per user - Households w/
- Efficiency of Internet access, % - Knowledge-
legal system in - Secure intensive jobs, %
settling Internet - Fixed broadband workforce
disputes servers/million Internet subs/100
pop pop. Social impacts
- Efficiency of
legal system in Affordability - Mobile broadband - Impact of ICTs on
challenging subs/100 pop. access to basic
registrations - Prepaid services
mobile cellular - Use of virtual
- Intellectual tariffs, PPP social networks - Internet access in
property $/min. schools
protection
Business usage
- Fixed - ICT use & gov’t
- Software broadband efficiency
piracy rate, % Internet tariffs, - Firm-level
software PPP $/month technology
installed absorption - E-Participation
Index, 0–
- Internet &
- No. telephony - Capacity for
procedures to competition, 0– innovation
enforce a 2 (best)
contract - PCT patents,
Skills applications/million
- No. days to
enforce a - Quality of pop.
contract educational
system - Business-to-
Business and business Internet
innovation - Quality of use
environment math & science
education - Business-to-
- Availability of consumer Internet
latest - Secondary use
technologies education
gross - Extent of staff
- Venture enrolment rate, training
capital %
availability Government usage
- Adult literacy
- Total tax rate, rate, %
- Importance of ICTs
% profits to gov’t vision

- No. days to - Government

start a business Online Service
Index, 0–1 (best)
- No.
procedures to - Gov’t success in
start a business ICT promotion

- Intensity of
local
competition

- Tertiary
education gross
enrolment rate,
%

- Quality of
management
schools

- Gov’t
procurement of
advanced
technology
Need for better ICT skills

While the Philippines fares relatively poor in ICT access and use, the skills and talents of
Filipino IT experts have been viewed to be competitive. Results of a survey by the Far
East Economic Review in September 1999, suggested that the Philippines then ranked
second to India in terms of quality, cost and availability of skilled IT workers in Asia,
making them very much in demand in many parts of the world.

Government and the private sector need to work together toward ensuring that the
proper environment exists for ICT to further flourish.

A discussion paper written by Winston Conrad Padojinog, released by the Philippine

Institute for Development Studies a decade ago, suggested the need for ICT policies to
narrow the digital divide by promoting competition, interconnection and convergence in
the ICT sector.

While some progress has been made over the past years, there is still much left to be
desired. While the Department of Science and Technology, through the ICT Office, is
about to provide free wifi, many point out that it is more important for telcos to work
together and with government to considerably improve the speed of Internet and mobile
services in the country.

ICT will also need to be diffused better in the education sector. In basic education, there
is a need to examine the extent of using ICT in the classroom as we implement the K-12
program.

Higher education students will also need to be more prepared for the ever-growing
demands of the information-driven economy, especially in the emerging area of data
science. It can readily be observed that ICT has been driving innovative activities, and
that the ICT sector constantly needs innovation.

In consequence, the country will need to develop and promote innovation policies so
that ICT can be an important element to sustain our economic growth, and to make this
growth and prosperity shared by all Filipinos.

https://studymoose.com/information-and-communication-technology-in-the-
philippines-essay
https://www.pids.gov.ph/infocus/113
https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/90584-ict-statistics-philippines