DepEd ensures system data protection

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) said it is doing its best to ensure the protection of data within its system.

DepEd assistant secretary for curriculum and instruction Elvin Uy said that as part of preparations for the senior high school program, the agency has revisited the security protocols of their system following a series of hackings of government websites.

“I can’t give you the full details, but we have made it more resilient. It’s still not 100 percent foolproof. No system is. But what you try to do is make it really difficult to get into,” Uy said.

“These are personally identifiable information, and it is the responsibility of any government agency and even the private sector to protect the integrity of these data. DepEd is wholly responsible and believes in the sanctity of these data,” he added.

The agency has recently reopened the online application for the senior high school voucher system, which will provide subsidy to students in public schools.

Requirements may be submitted to the Online Voucher Application Portal of the Private Education Assistance Committee at http://ovap.deped.gov.ph until May 6.

Results will be released by May 20.

The DepEd has a budget of over P12 billion for the program.

Over 50,000 senior high school voucher applications were approved following the first run of the process that ended in February.

These voucher applicants are on top of the 1.4 million public school grantees of the Education Service Contracting program who are already automatically qualified.

DepEd director for finance Theresa Menardo said the voucher program will enable students to have more options in choosing their career path as it will allow them to enroll in non-DepEd schools.