FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Constitution, Article TI, Section 17, provides: 
The State shall give priority to education, science and technology, arts, 
culture, and sports to foster patriotism and nationalism, accelerate social progress, 
and promote total human liberation and development. 
In 1994, the US Congress and the Department of Education collaborated to make a long- 
term, meaningful, and public investment in the principle that high-quality pre-school television 
programming will help children be ready to learn by the time children entered first grade 
The Ready-to-Learn Television Program through Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and 
local public television stations has proven to be extremely cost-effective national response to 
improving early childhood development and helping parents, caregivers, and professional child 
care providers learn how to use television as a means to help children learn, develop, and play 
creatively. 
Independent research shows that parents who participate in Ready-To-Learn workshops 
are more critical consumers of television and their children are more active viewers. 
A 
University of Alabama study showed that parents who have attended a Ready-To-Learn 
workshop read more books and stories to their children and read more minutes each time than 
non-attendees. The parents did more hands-on activities related to reading with their children. 
The parents engaged in more word activities and for more minutes each time. The parents read 
less for entertainment and more for education. The parents took their children to libraries and 
bookstores more than non-attendees. 
Further, six (6) months after participating in Ready-To-Learn workshops, parents who 
attended generally had set rules for television viewing by their children. These rules related to 
the amount of time the children were allowed to watch television daily, the hours the children 


were allowed to watch television, and the tasks or chores the children must have accomplished 
before the children were allowed to watch television. 
Hence, this bill seeks to incorporate ready-to-learn television programming in the country 
by forging partnership between the Department of Education, Culture, and Sports and eligible 
television and broadcasting entities in order to develop, produce, and distribute educational and 
instructional video programming for preschool and elementary school children and their parents.* 
* This bill was originally filed during the Thirteenth Congress, First Regular Session. 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
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OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
First Regular Session 
1 
SENATE 
S.NO. 1504 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
TO PROVIDE FOR DIGITAL EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assem bled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Digital Education Act of 
2007.” 
SECTION 2. Ready-To-Learn Digital Television. - 
(A) In General. - The Secretary of Education is authorized to award grants to, or enter 
into contracts or cooperative agreements with, eligible television and broadcasting entities to 
develop, produce, and distribute educational and instructional video programming for pre-school 
and elementary school children and their parents, patterned after the Ready-To-Learn television 
program in the United States. 
(B) Availability. - In making such grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements, the 
Secretary shall ensure that eligible entities make programming widely available, with support 
materials as appropriate, to young children, their parents, and childcare workers. 
SECTION 3. Educationalprogramming. - 
(A) Awards. - The Secretary shall award grants, contracts, cooperative agreements to 
eligible entities to - 
(1) Facilitate the development directly, or through contracts with producers of 
children and family educational television programming, of - 
(a) Educational programming for pre-school and elementary school 
children: and 
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(b) Accompanying support materials and services that promote the 
effective use of such programming; 
(2) Facilitate the development of programming and digital content especially 
designed for nationwide distribution over public television stations’ digital 
broadcasting channcls and Internet, containing Ready-to-Learn-based 
children’s programming and resources for parents and caregivers; and 
(3) Enable eligible entities to contract with entities such as public 
telecommunications entities so that programs developed under this section are 
disseminated and distributed - 
(a) To the widest possible audience appropriate to be served by the 
programming; and 
@) By the most appropriate distribution technologies. 
(B) Eligible Entities. - To be eligible to receive a grant, contract, or cooperative 
agreement under paragraph (A), an entity shall be - 
(1) A public telecommunications entity that is able to demonstrate a capacity for 
development a capacity for the development and national distribution of 
educational and instructional television programming of high quality for 
preschool and elementary school children; and 
(2) Able to demonstrate a capacity to contract with the producers of children’s 
television programming for the purpose of developing educational television 
programming of high quality for preschool and elementary school children 
(C) Cultural Experiences. - Programming developed under this section shall reflect the 
recognition of diverse cultural experiences and the needs and experiences of both boys and girls 
in engaging and preparing young children for schooling. 
SECTION 4. Duties of the Secretary. - (A) To award grants, contracts, or cooperative 
agreements to eligible entities, local public television stations, or community-based organizations 
of demonstrated effectiveness, for the purpose of - 
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(1) Addressing the learning needs of young children in limited English proficient 
households, and developing appropriate educational and instndonal 
television programming to foster the school readiness of such children; 
(2) Developing programming and support materials to increase family literacy 
skills among parents to assist parents in teaching their children and utilizing 
educational television programming to promote school readiness; and 
(3) Developing and disseminating training materials, including - 
(a) Interactive programs and programs adaptable to distance learning 
technologies that are designed to enhance knowledge of children’s 
social and cognitive skill development and positive adult-child 
interactions; and 
(b) Support materials to promote the effective use of materials developed 
under subparagraph (2) among parents, early childhood development 
personnel, elementary school teachers, public libraries, and after- 
school program personnel caring for preschool and elementary school 
children; 
(B) To establish within the Department a clearing-house to compile and provide 
information, referrals, and model program materials and programming obtained or developed 
under this part to parents, child care providers, and other appropriate individuals or entities to 
assist such individuals and entities in accessing programs and projects under this part. 
SECTION 5. Application. - Each entity desiring a grant, contract, or cooperative 
agreement shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and 
accompanied by such information as the secretary may reasonable require. 
SECTION 6. Reports and Evaluations. - 
(A) Annual Report to Secretaly. - An eligible entity receiving funds under this Act shall 
prepare and submit to the Secretary an annual report which contains such information as the 
Secretary may require. At a minimum, the report shall describe the program activities undertaken 
with funds received, including - 
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(1) The programming that has been developed directly or indirectly by the 
eligible entity, and the target population of the programs developed; 
(2) The support materials that have been developed to accompany the 
programming, and the method by which such materials are distributed to 
consumers and users of the programming; 
(3) The means by which the programming developed under this section has been 
distributed, including the distance learning technologies that have been 
utilized to make programming available and the geographic distribution 
achieved through such technologies; and 
(4) The initiatives undertaken by eligible entity to develop public-private 
partnership to secure support for the development, distribution and broadcast 
of educational and instructional programming. 
(B) Report to Congress. - The Secretary shall prepare and submit to the relevant 
committees of Congress a biannual report which includes - 
(1) A summary of activities assisted; and 
(2) A description of the training materials made available, the manner in which 
outreach has been conducted to inform parents and childcare providers of the 
availability of such materials, and the manner in which such materials have 
been distributed in accordance with such section. 
SECTION 7. Funding. - There are authorized such sums as may be necessary to carry 
out the provisions o€ this Act. 
SECTION 8. Separability Clause. - If any provisions or part hereof, is held invalid or 
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision shall remain valid and subsisting. 
SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive 
order, letter o€ instruction, administrative order, rule or regulations contrary to or inconsistent 
with, the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly. 
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SECTION 10. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
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Approved, 
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