This law seeks to promote assistance from various government agencies, infrastructure standards, and incentives for teachers to fill the education gap in remote communities.
On August 12, Republic Act No. 12321, or the Last Mile and Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) Schools Act, will take into effect.
With the Department of Education (DepEd) being the chief agency responsible for its implementation, Secretary Sonny Angara announced that they are already strengthening and preparing its main offices for the implementation of the law.
“We thank President Bongbong Marcos for signing this important law. We cannot leave our teachers and students in the remotest corners of the country behind,” said Angara in a statement.
According to him, the law puts end to a long-standing problem with a concrete solution that will ensure that there are “well-equipped classrooms, sufficient and protected teachers, and… schools are more accessible to students.”
Under the law’s provisions, DepEd is tasked to create evidence-based guidelines to determine covered schools.
They will also need to take into account indicators such as areas where more than 75 percent of the students are from Indigenous Peoples (IP) communities, or areas affected by conflict and disaster.
As such, the current DepEd guidelines that outline the parameters for Last Mile Schools (LMS) and GIDA will be reviewed in accordance with the law.
In addition, any construction of schools within ancestral domains must also strictly comply with Republic Act No. 8371 or the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997 and the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) requirements.
The law also mandates the DepEd to develop a National Last Mile and GIDA School Map within one year of its enactment. The map will serve as a basis for planning, funding, and program implementation, which will be updated at least once every three years.
Thus, the current DepEd LMS (Learner Management System) and GIDA mapping system will be updated.
For teachers assigned to hazardous and isolated areas, the law provides for a comprehensive support package for teachers and non-teaching personnel in collaboration with the Department of Budget and Management (DBM), LGUs, and other relevant agencies.
Furthermore, for their career development, there will also be specialized training with the National Educators Academy of the Philippines and the Teacher Education Council — both mandated to develop appropriate pre-service curricula, career development pathways, scholarships with corresponding return-of-service obligations, and a credit-point system.
Local recruitment mechanisms will also prioritize residents, culturally and linguistically appropriate candidates, provisional deployment pathways, and the participation of indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSP) educators and cultural custodians.
The law also sets national accessibility standards that ensure that basic education schools are accessible within a three-kilometer walking distance from the students’ place of residence.
Should that not be possible, especially due to terrain, geography, land, or security challenges, the DepEd and local government units (LGUs) are mandated to provide transportation support and alternative modes of learning delivery.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) must also ensure roads leading to schools are constructed in accordance with the Accessibility Law and universal design concepts.
At present, the DepEd said they are finalizing implementing rules and technical guidelines to ensure the smooth implementation of the program once the law takes full effect.
The law is one of the measures declared as priority bills of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., which promoted him to authorize a special Congressional session last June 17.
Meanwhile, aside from education, other measures that have been introduced to GIDA in the country include the distribution of Bayanihan SIM cards by the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
The SIM cards, with a 25GB monthly allocation, were distributed free of charge to students and teachers to GIDA locations, which were identified in coordination with the National Economic Development Authority, which is now the Department of Economic Planning and Development.
