Information Communications Technology is usually included in the Home Economics and Livelihood Education program in grade school and taught through the Technology and Home Economics programCajilig 2009. in high school. The recent status of ICT education in the Philippines, along with other Southeast Asian countries, was surveyed by the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) in 2011. Using the UNESCO model of ICT Development in Education, the countries were ranked as Emerging, Applying, Infusing or Transforming. The Philippines (with Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam) were ranked at the Infusing stage of integrating ICT in education, indicating that the country has integrated ICT into existing teaching, learning and administrative practices and policies. This includes components such as a national vision of ICT in education, national ICT plans and policies, complementary national ICT and education policies, professional development for teachers and school leaders, community or partnership and teaching and learning pedagogies.Maftuh 2011. A 2012 study reported that public high schools in Metro Manila had a computer to student ratio of 1:63. While 88 percent of schools have internet connections, half of the students claimed not to be using it.Manaligod 2012.

History Early modernization efforts In 1996, the Department of Education initialized a 10-year modernization program, which included a computerization project and the School of the Future project. The modernization project aimed to implement information technology in the improvement of teaching and learning processes, as well as in educational management and operations. This project was supported by numerous other government agencies and private sectors.Perez 2016. Three-fourths of its budget of PHP 375 million was used on hardware and software procurement, while the remaining quarter on staff training on ICT. The modernization program also established a Center of Education and Technology (CET) whose main purpose was the development and production of multimedia instruction materials, hardware, software and training of DECS personnel. An additional of PHP 300 million was allocated in 1997 to computerize 97 state universities and colleges and another PHP 210 million was allocated in 1999 to equip 325 schools with computers and train 4000 teachers.Rodrigo 2002.

Project Cares In March 2001, The Senate of Committee on Education launched Project Cares, designed to improve upon the current public elementary and secondary school educational systems through the use and application of ICT. It provided public and district school offices with computer-based management and operation support tools that aimed to make the school more efficient and productive with their work.

To improve upon the number and quality of skill of ICT professionals, both the Senate and the House of Representatives contemplated laws to make public and private institutions incorporate ICT into their curriculum at all levels of education. Among those plans proposed to improve ICT in the Philippines were tax incentives to encourage private companies to donate computer equipment to schools or research institutions and a bill that would have mandated the installation of computer equipment on all public schools.

Other non-government efforts Other non-government organizations such as Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) have expressed the need for ICT education as well. The group formulated a portfolio of project proposals to build schools that would be focused on ICT personnel training and software development. Companies would review the portfolio and select the projects that they would want to fund. One of the projects, entitled "Computer Laboratories Program for Secondary Schools", sought to provide computer laboratories in at least 50 public and private high schools. This initiative produced numerous ICT experts from various schools and equipped institutions with the proper equipment.

Recent development In 2011, the Department of Education implemented the Enhanced Basic Education Information System, an online facility for encoding, storage and report generation of all school information such as enrolment, resource inventories and special programs."DepEd capitalizes on ICT programs for education stakeholder," 2014. It was to create an online and automated system of gathering data to provide the department with more relevant and accurate information for decision making and planning. With this improved system, it aims to improve budget allocations in the Philippines, providing more schools with more equipment.

ICT on K-12 Program In 2012, The Department of Education and the United States Agency for International Development undertook a review on the computer accessibility in public schools as well as the past and ongoing ICT projects being implemented there. They aimed to improve upon those projects with regard to the new educational curriculum. The DepEd Computerization program has been implemented which deployed computer packages to 5409 public elementary and high schools to support the teaching and learning process.Ronda, 2017.

Under the K-12 Program, ICT is a strand subsumed under the Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) and Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (TVL), which is one of the four tracks under the Senior High School Specialized Subjects. This track also includes Agri-Fishery Arts, Home Economics, Industrial Arts, and TVL Maritime professional strands. A senior high school student can specialize in ICT or any of these strands and will receive a certificate that could be used for employment or a basis for further college education upon completion.

The ICT strand allows students to learn writing computer programs, digital illustration, and website design/development. Students also take up technical drafting, animation, and Java programming, which are expected to equip students with the skills necessary to succeed in the creative technological field. Other subjects in the strand include medical transcription and telecom installation, which could be useful to students planning to work for the telecommunications industry or further study a bachelor's degree related to it.

ICT IN EDUCATION

If designed and implemented properly, ICT-supported education can promote the acquisition of the knowledge and skills that will empower students for lifelong learning. When used appropriately, ICTs, especially computers and Internet technologies, enable new ways of teaching and learning rather than simply allow teachers and students to do what they have done before in a better way. These new ways of teaching and learning are underpinned by constructivist theories of learning and constitute a shift from a teacher-centered pedagogy, in its worst form characterized by memorization and rote learning, to one that is learner-centered (Tinio, 2002). The introduction of the modern library and the pencil in the mid-1600s marked the beginning of the use of technology in education? In the latter part of the 1970s, the very first computer was integrated into schools. By the early 1980s when IBM created the first PC, nearly twenty percent of schools in the UK and the US had computers in use. By the year 2005, more than 50% of public schools included laptops for students in their technology budget. It was at this same time, more than 90% of schools had access to the Internet. By 2011, many schools were including tablet PCs for students and teachers in their technology budget. Concerns over educational relevance and quality coexist with the imperative of expanding education- al opportunities to those made most vulnerable by globalization—developing countries in general; low-income groups, girls and women, and low-skilled workers in particular. Global changes also put pressure on all groups to constantly acquire and apply new skills. The International Labor Organization defines the requirements for education and training in the new global economy simply as “Basic Education for All” “Core Work Skills for All” and “Lifelong Learning for All”.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs)—which include radio and television, as well as newer digital technologies such as computers and the Internet—have been touted as potentially powerful enabling tools for educational change and reform. When used appropriately, different ICTs are said to help expand access to education, strengthen the relevance of education to the increasingly digital workplace, and raise educational quality by, among others, helping make teaching and learning into an engaging, active process connected to real life. However, the experience of introducing different ICTs in the classroom and other educational settings all over the world over the past several decades suggests that the full realization of the potential educational benefits of ICTs is not automatic. The effective integration of ICTs into the educational system is a complex, multifaceted process that involves not just technology—indeed, given enough initial capital, getting the technology is the easiest part!—but also curriculum and pedagogy, institutional readiness, teacher competencies, and long-term financing, among others. How can ICTs help expand access to education? ICTs are a potentially powerful tool for extending educational opportunities, both formal and non-for- mal, to previously underserved constituencies—scattered and rural populations, groups traditionally excluded from education due to cultural or social reasons such as ethnic minorities, girls and women, persons with disabilities, and the elderly, as well as all others who for reasons of cost or because of time constraints are unable to enroll on campus. • Anytime, anywhere. One defining feature of ICTs is their ability to transcend time and space. ICTs make possible asynchronous learning, or learning characterized by a time lag between the delivery of instruction and its reception by learners. Online course materials, for example, may be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. ICT-based educational delivery (e.g., educational programming broadcast over radio or television) also dispenses with the need for all learners and the instructor to be in one physical location. Additionally, certain types of ICTs, such as teleconferencing technologies, enable instruction to be received simultaneously by multiple, geo- graphically dispersed learners (i.e., synchronous learning). Access to remote learning resources. Teachers and learners no longer have to rely solely on printed books and other materials in physical media housed in libraries (and available in limited quantities) for their educational needs. With the Internet and the World Wide Web, a wealth of learning materials in almost every subject and in a variety of media can now be accessed from anywhere at any time of the day and by an unlimited number of people. This is particularly significant for many schools in developing countries, and even some in developed countries, that have limited and outdated library resources.