PH Government plans to replace textbooks with tablets

President Rodrigo Duterte plans to ask the Department of Education to replace textbooks in schools with tablets in an effort to modernize institutions and help children learn digital communications at an early age.

According to a report from Manila Bulletin, this also coincides with the administration’s goal of modernizing its services by putting most of government’s transactions, especially applications, online for everyone’s better access. “Sinabi ko na, online na lang (I said everything should be done online now). Passport, online. Clearances, online. Gamitin na ninyo (You should use it now) because it is the digital age,” he said.

With the initiative to replace textbooks with tablets containing PDF files of their learnings as well as educational activities, Duterte hopes that technology can aid in the early formation of children, as well as save more government funding in the long run. “Ang pag-asa natin ay ang mga anak natin (Our children are our hope). So they have to learn the basics about cyberspace and everything, digital communications,” Duterte said.

Duterte vows to find a way to allocate funds for this seemingly expensive vision. “And I will save enough money for this. It’s gonna be billions but I will save for something that is beneficial to our children,” he said.

This scenario is not the first of its kind in the country. We’ve known several schools and colleges in the country have already made the switch to Android tablets or iPads for reading materials such as St. Paul in 2010 and Meridian International College (MINT) since its start, as well as local publishers like Vibal starting to cater e-book materials to accommodate growing demand since 2012.