DepEd urges schools to shift to digital yearbooks

MANILA, Philippines - Saying thick, printed yearbooks are old fashioned, Education Secretary Armin Luistro yesterday urged schools to opt for “digitized” or web-based yearbooks to save on expenses.

“In today’s world, the printed yearbook is outdated. What’s in trend now are digitized (yearbooks) so I’m taking this opportunity to advise them not to print yearbooks because they are no longer in fashion,” Luistro said in Filipino.

He said they can also create videos and post them on YouTube.

“I think if schools print yearbooks, it’s like saying their thinking is outdated or old fashioned. What’s in now is digitized. You can even put in videos and post them on YouTube,” he said.

“Our rule is that teachers and principals are not allowed to collect money for yearbooks. If this is a project of the PTA (Parents-Teachers Association), the school authorities would have to check how much they intend to collect,” he said.

The education department earlier discouraged schools from collecting fees for graduation as well as yearbooks, especially in areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda last year. 

Luistro urged public schools to observe austerity in graduation rites.

DepEd had set the schedule of graduation for all public elementary and high schools on March 27 and 28.

In Eastern Visayas, the school year 2013-2014 ends on April 7 and summer classes start on April 8.

“The division offices are given the leeway to set a one-day simultaneous closing rites and one-day graduation rites,” DepEd Region 8 director Luisa Bautista-Yu said.