Illiteracy more costly than education Riza T. Olchondra Inquirer
November 04, 2007
MANILA, Philippines--YOU THINK cyber education is expensive? Try illiteracy, said Thailand's Distance Learning Foundation, which is positioned as a model for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Without giving the total expenditure used to build Thailand's nationwide satellite network for education, foundation chair Khwankeo Vajarodaya said in a recent interview in Bangkok that Thai companies pitched in a total of 50 million baht 12 years ago to serve as seed money for the foundation.
But the money was small compared to the benefits of the program, Vajarodaya told a Philippine delegation led by Department of Education director Lolita Andrada.
He said that before Thailand's "One Class, One Channel" program, children living in poor or calamity-hit areas were prone to abuse, human trade or drug addiction, becoming a cost to society in their adult years instead of being employable.
That changed in 1995, when the Distance Learning Foundation and the King's Wang Klaikangwon School started a project to broadcast live class lectures for 15 channels.
There is one for grades 1 to 12 and three other channels for vocational, university classes and teacher training.
The broadcasts are transmitted via satellite.
In its present form, the program also reaches overseas Thais to keep them rooted in their culture. At the web page www.dlf.ac.th, Internet users can view the live satellite broadcasts of the 15 channels or select on demand.
With this page, Thais living abroad can relive or study Thai culture under the satellite-enabled learning with five centers at Thai Temples in France, Switzerland, Los Angeles and the Royal Thai consulates in Chicago and New York.
The system in Thailand uses the Direct to Home or DTH technology, which is also available in the Philippines.
Vajarodaya said that, seeing similar education needs between Thailand and the Philippines, the Distance Learning Foundation is keen on donating a satellite receiver set to the Philippines' DepEd.
He said that hopefully, the gesture will kickstart bilateral cooperation on cyber education.
The satellite receiver set would enable the DepEd to capture the same live lectures broadcast to Thai schools for free under the "One Class, One Channel' project.
The DepEd can later make its own content and design its own education system.
Thai Ambassador Asha Dvitiyananda, who co-chaired the meeting with DepEd officials, expressed hope that the cooperation will later grow into an ASEAN-wide effort.
Dvitiyananda suggested that the Philippine government make donations for cyber education tax deductible, to make it more attractive for companies to pitch in.
"Something must be done fast for distance education, it is important to provide good learning to young people near and far. It would be even more costly not to, and that is true for the whole ASEAN," the envoy concluded.
