Gov't developing cloud network for PHL schools

The Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering (Comste) said it is currently hatching a cloud-based collaboration network for local colleges and universities.

^Tangonan

The project, according to Comste executive director Greg Tangonan, is intended to unlock the vast but untapped R&D (research and development) potential of tertiary institutions in the country.

The initiative is part of Comste’s innovation cluster strategy which it has forged with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), the Department of Agriculture (DA), and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

The agencies involved are working together to draft master R&D plans for innovation clusters in the following areas: 1) Algae research and commercialization; 2) Smart agriculture and precision farming; 3) Responsible mining technologies; 4) Disaster science and management; and 5) ICT for cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS).

Senator Edgardo Angara, chair of Comste, noted that around P300 million in the 2012 budget has been appropriated for the establishment of innovation clusters.

“These clusters are our attempt to answer the urgent need to change the way we conduct R&D in this country,” said Angara. “Alongside the efforts of the DepEd to roll out the K to 12 curriculum, we are trying to create an entire ecosystem that thrives on scientific thinking and ingenuity.”

The DepEd recently made assurances that the new basic education curriculum is being designed to strengthen science education, amidst criticisms regarding its prior pronouncements on dropping “Science” as a separate subject in Grade 1 starting SY 2012-2013.

Angara, who is also Chair of the Senate Committee on Education, Culture and the Arts, had earlier expressed support for the extended curriculum and called on the DepEd to further clarify how scientific education will not be diminished.

A joint public hearing on the K to 12 curriculum between the Senate Committees on Education, Culture and the Arts; Ways and Means; and Finance will be conducted on February 16, 2012. — Newsbytes.ph