DepEd opposes Ateneo de Davao Facebook ban

The Department of Education (DepEd) opposes the partial ban on Facebook in Ateneo de Davao University, the morning newscast “Dobol B sa News TV" reported Tuesday. DepEd communications head Kenneth Tirado said that the school should instead teach students to use social networking sites like Facebook responsibly, according to the newscast. A good alternative would be the prohibition of the use of social networking sites while in class, Tirado reportedly added. Last week, some students and faculty members of the Ateneo de Davao staged a picket to protest the Facebook restriction, considering that students were required to pay over P1,300 as “information technology fee" each semester. But the Ateneo de Davao administration clarified that Facebook is “not totally banned" in the university as the restriction only covers 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. In an interview aired on GMA News’ “Saksi" newscast Monday, Ateneo de Davao assistant to the president Jeremy Eliab explained that Facebook eats into the bandwidth of the university’s Internet connection, making it difficult to use some online services. “Most of our books are not really physically in the library. It’s online. They can read these books while they are inside the campus. Now if Facebook is eating the bandwith, it’s impossible to download the whole book," Eliab said. “We want our personnel to focus more on not on social networking, but on their necessary work, basically educational work," he added. — TJD, GMA News