iSchools Project Announces Criteria for 2009 Funding Cycle

The iSchools Project has just released the criteria it will be using for selecting public high school recipients for the 2009 funding cycle. The project releases new guidelines at the start of every cycle based on CICT policy. Last year, the project focused on providing ICT access to the most remote public high schools in the country. This upcoming fund however, is directed at enhancing the ICT capability of the ‘next wave’ cities.

While the project is still intent on bridging the digital divide especially in far-flung locations nationwide, iSchools management sees this as the best response to strengthen the economic impact of ICT, in “support of the growing industry and the cyber corridor,” adds iSchools Project Manager Antonette Torres.

To be chosen as one of the 320 recipients of the iSchools Project, public high schools must fulfill the following operational and commitment criteria:

Operational

• Not be a recipient of previous computerization projects
• Have stable & sufficient supply of electricity
• Adhere to technical requirements: space, security, outlets, fixtures, etc
• Have access to internet connection in the area
• Designate an ICT coordinator and alternate/assistant
• Located in BPO centers of excellence, next wave cities and provinces

Commitment

• Integrate ICT in education
• Contribute in the ICT development of the community
• Strong support from school community and development partners
• Ensure optimal laboratory utilization

Fulfilling these criteria assures the iSchools Project that the chosen high school can sustain and benefit from the computer laboratory in the long run.

The iSchools Project is one of the flagship projects of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) under the ICT4BE Program. The project aims to integrate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, by providing training modules and increasing ICT access in public high schools. Now on its 3rd year of implementation, the iSchools Project has provided these services to 680 schools nationwide with an additional 320 schools intended for deployment.

Final MandE Training-Workshop readies team for nationwide rollout

The iSchools Project’s monitoring and evaluation (M&E) team completed their final Training-Workshop last July 9-10, 2009 at Fernandez Beach Resort in the Island Garden City of Samal (IgaCos), Davao del Norte. The team, composed of 10 partner State Universities and Colleges (SUC) and CICT-iSchools Project Management Office (PMO) representatives, underwent a series of workshops to develop the framework and implementing guidelines for the monitoring and evaluation of 360 previous recipients of the iSchools Project.

The team is a collection of SUC partners who were not involved in previous project funding cycles. They were drafted to act as impartial coordinators in the planning and execution of this activity.

Moreover, tapping these partners for the M&E team is based on their strength as field mediators between the CICT and the recipient schools. They can best provide basic technical assistance to recipients. At the same time, they can provide the PMO with policy/ operational recommendations to improve project delivery.

Aside from monitoring the work of previous implementers, the team’s tasks involve evaluating the benefits of the project and ensuring that expectations of each stakeholder sector have been met.

Through these activities, the M&E team will determine whether the iSchools strategy of providing a combination of ICT laboratories and capability-building trainings has helped empower public high schools and improve secondary education in the Philippines.

Four training-workshops were conducted to prepare for this task: Basic M&E, Standardization, Online Forms Development, and the final M&E framework and implementing guidelines to adopt.

An M&E Manual is currently being finalized to contain the project framework, implementation and reporting guidelines to be observed by the team in the conduct of their activities. Rollout of M&E activities is targeted from September 2009 to May 2010.