The city government of Manila turned over on Monday, Aug. 24, to the Division of City Schools (DCS) units of laptops, tablets, pocket WiFi, and SIM cards which it purchased for use by teachers and students enrolled in different public schools in the city.
“So far we’re on time, on track, hopefully by October 5 everything will be okay,” Manila mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said in an interview.
A total of 110,700 units of Cherry Mobile tablets, 286,000 pieces of Globe SIM cards, 11,000 units of Avita laptops, and 11,000 pieces of pocket WiFi have been delivered to the DCS Manila, according to the acknowledgment receipt signed by Domagoso and DCS-Manila superintendent Maria Magdalena Lim.
The laptops and the pocket WiFi are for the use of teachers. Students from kinder to Grade 12 will use the tablets with SIM cards. Both come with an Internet load of 10 gigabytes, which is already enough for online, Domagoso said.
The cost to purchase the gadgets amounted to a total of P1.64 billion.
“The original allocation was P900 million but we added over P100 million because many students transferred from private to public schools,” Domagoso said.
The Department of Education has noted an increase in the number of students transferring from private to public schools as a result of the economic difficulties due to the pandemic. The DCS-Manila recorded about 25,000 transferees in the city.
The distribution of the devices to parents and students will begin on Wednesday, August 26. — Marita Moaje (PNA)
