Photos of teachers who set up tents by the side road in Davao de Oro just to get internet signal and attend a webinar went viral in social media.
The person who took and uploaded the pictures said the teachers are from Maco town, Davao de Oro, who needed to set up tents in the area just to get connected and participate in the online seminar.
The Department of Education said DepEd in Davao region would probe the incident.
Education Undersecretary Alain Pascua explained the two online tools used during the webinar had server issues due to a sudden influx of participants.
The webinar aimed to equip teachers on technology-based teaching as part of DepEd’s preparation on shifting to blended learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Pascua, around 45,000 teachers from the Davao region participated in the webinar while 156,000 watched it on Facebook.
“The webinar, by far, is the largest DepEd online activity that has reached so many participants and viewers, beating all other webinars conducted at the national level,” he said.
“Both online tools apparently reached their limit of the number of users accessing their servers at the same time,” he explained.
Also read: Briones to Duterte: Allow DepEd to continue school opening preparations
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers did not like the photos and said the teachers were left on their own to do their job.
DepEd meanwhile lauded the teachers for their “desire to upskill themselves.”
“These very same teachers are thankful for the opportunity to learn and equip themselves with the skills appropriate for the unique challenges posed by the New Normal,” said Pascua.
“Their excitement over the webinar sessions is a testament of their resourcefulness and fortitude despite the lack of mobile coverage in their areas,” he added.
DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones earlier said she is confident DepEd could deliver blended or distance learning effectively.
She also said of the 7,000 teachers they surveyed, “87 percent of them have desktops, laptops, and cellular phones.”
“We always assume that teachers don’t have laptops, that they don’t have desktops, but a high number of them have in their homes, and we will also provide [these for] them.”
Briones also remained firm that the school year 2020-2021 in the Philippines would open on August 24, noting that education could not wait for coronavirus vaccine.