GILAS is acronym for Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students, a multi sectoral initiative that aims to provide Internet access for students and basic Internet literacy programs in all the 6,350 public secondary schools in the Philippines. The mission is led by a consortium of private corporations and civic organizations in coordination and cooperation with the Department of Education.

Only 60% of the country’s public high schools have computer laboratories accessible to students, and 28% of these schools have been connected as of year-end 2007. In an environment of resource scarcity, Internet literacy is arguably the most cost effective investment we can make in our educational system.

Primarily senior high school students in the country's public schools. Depending on student density and availability of PC workstations, the Internet laboratories may be made available to high school students in lower years as well. As of 2006, around 4,970,000 Filipino students were enrolled in the public high school system. So far GILAS has connected over 1,837 schools, benefiting around 918,000 students all over the country.

For schools that already have working computer laboratories, GILAS will provide Internet connectivity packages and the basic training necessary for teachers so that they can impart Internet literacy skills to the students. For schools that do not have working computer laboratories, GILAS will provide both laboratories (of at least ten PC units each) and the Internet connectivity packages along with the corresponding basic training. In both cases, GILAS will provide unlimited Internet access for the laboratories for one year.

Connecting all the public high schools in the Philippines is expected to take no more than 5 years. This would mean a connection rate of a little over 1,000 schools per year.

Recipient schools will be selected by the working members of the Steering Committee taking into consideration the following factors:

• the existence of elements necessary for connectivity: laboratory infrastructure and security, computer capacity, electricity, phone connection or satellite availability;
• the local community's participation and ownership in the project, including their joint plans for sustainability of the project;
• the participation of the potential donee community's respective local political chief executives.

A Steering Committee made up of leaders in government, the private sector, the social development community and the donor community was formed to oversee GILAS and lead the campaign to mobilize the resources needed to accomplish the mission. The government fully endorses the GILAS initiative with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Secretary of Education Jesli Lapus sitting as Honorary Chair and Vice Chair of the Steering Committee. Senator Manuel Roxas and Mr. Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Vice Chairman of the Ayala Foundation are working Co-Chairs of the Steering Committee.
Other CEOs of some of the country's largest and most progressive corporations have agreed to serve as Steering Committee members, as well as representatives of various civic, social, multilateral and bilateral development and donor organizations.

Any individual, organization, company or institution can help the project by making cash donations, raising funds or helping mobilize other resources for GILAS.
For public schools that already have computer labs, the current estimated cost of providing standard internet connectivity packages per school for 1 year is approximately US $2,500.  For those that don’t have computer labs, the current estimated cost of  the complete GILAS lab including 10 brand new PCs approximately US $6,500. For schools in more remote areas that need wireless facilities, the cost will be higher. 
Donors may choose to sponsor all or a fraction of the cost of connecting 1 school, 1 district, or 1 province according to the donor's capacity to give.

Aside from cash donations, any individual can help by:

• Providing technical services in the installation of Internet connection;
• Assisting in the teacher training and curriculum integration effort, a major component of the GILAS program (i.e. Internet literacy courses, maintenance and troubleshooting, etc.);
• Helping schools plan for future sustainability;
• Hardware donations in accordance with the technical guidelines and specifications that the GILAS management prescribes
• Providing other forms of logistical support.

Donations in cash or in checks can be sent to:

Ayala Foundation USA is a duly registered 501 (C) 3 organization. All donations made by US tax domiciled parties are eligible for tax deductibility. Ayala Foundation will issue to donors the requisite receipts for such purpose.
Philippine tax domiciled donors may benefit from tax deductions as detailed in Revenue Regulations No. 10-2003 providing for deductibility of up to 150% of amounts donated under the Adopt-A-School program of the Department of Education.

Yes. Monitoring is an integral part of GILAS's plans. GILAS is incorporating best practices from post installation monitoring programs of previous undertakings of similar nature. It is also taking into consideration monitoring concerns of the Department of Education.

Some are part of the Steering Committee while others have agreed to pledge resources. American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc., Apple South Asia Pte. Ltd., Ayala Corporation, Ayala Foundation, Inc., Bayan Telecommunications, Inc., Commission on Information & Communications Technology, Department of Education, Department of Trade and Industry, Digitel Philippines, Globe Telecom, Inc., GMA Network, Inc., IBM Daksh Business Process Services Philippines, Inc., Innove Communications, Inc., Integrated Microelectronics, Inc., Intel Microelectronics Philippines, Inc., Makati Business Club, Microsoft Philippines, Inc., Narra Venture Capital, Office of Senator Mar Roxas, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, Philippine Business for Social Progress, Philstar.com, Smart Communications, Inc., SPi Technologies Foundation

Multi sectoral alliances will always be difficult to manage because each sector has a unique perspective and specific motivations. Within each sector, individual organizations also have their own perspective and motivation.
Ironically, the alarming state of the education system is proving to be a great unifying factor. The different parties involved have recognized that our problems cannot be solved in uncoordinated fashion. What is keeping the consortium moving forward is that the many parties involved (whether public, private, or civil society) have been incredibly genuine in their desire to arrest the deterioration of Philippine public education. While the many perspectives and varying motivations remain, GILAS has been able to emphasize on the common ground as a basis for moving forward effectively.