Current Issues and Trends of Internet-Based Education in the Philippines

The Philippines is one of many developing countries that has begun using the Internet to establish closer communication with entities abroad. Some educational institutions have begun engaging in Internet-based distance education to provide accessible, anytime, anywhere education. These ventures have focused on the tertiary level and post-graduate level of education. The quality of the Internet education that they provide has shown them to be at par with western institutions. However, in the primary and secondary levels of education, the situation is one of a large disparity between the levels of education provided by public and private schools of the nation. Many public educational facilities are located in remote areas where they do not even have electricity, telephone facilities, let alone Internet access. Due to lack of funding, the government has been forced to focus first on providing these schools with the most basic of amenities. Aside from these efforts, the government has also begun to provide ICT facilities to chosen schools that meet the basic requirements for ICT to function. The chapter discusses each of these major points in detail.