THE national government must first impose preventive measures against the threat of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) before it decides on the date of class resumptions for Kindergarten to Grade 12 students, teacher-unionists under the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said.
The teachers emphasized the need to ensure the welfare of students and school personnel as they adapt to the “new normal” and continue formal education.
“Talks on resumption of classes are welcomed, but more than the ‘when’, the need for the government to deal with the ‘how’ and present concrete measures to prevent further COVID-19 outbreak should classes start while ensuring everyone’s access to quality education,” said ACT secretary general Raymond Basilio.
He added that the country has a “dismal state of education system”, which will make it harder to practice safety measures such as physical distancing.
“Physical distancing will not be possible in many of our schools, especially in urban areas where one classroom is cut in half to accommodate two classes with 50 students each,” Basilio said.
“This remains to be the case even as DepEd (Department of Education) has introduced decongestion measures such as the Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) of education, two-to-three shifts of classes, etc.,” he added.
In the Philippines, public schools welcome more than 20 million students in elementary and high school annually.
Most classrooms hold over 100 students even if the Education Department only suggested 45 students per class.
Basilio said that schools with limited access to clean and running water will have a hard time imposing stricter sanitary procedures such as hand washing.
“Frequent hand washing will be especially challenging as most of us do not have or have limited access to clean running water at school. Infections will likely go unchecked due to the lack of nurses in schools,” he said.
According to Basilio, proposals for “distance learning” will also be hard for students who have limited access to the internet.
“Even the laptops we use for work as demanded by DepEd’s 21st century learning came from our own pockets. Meanwhile, our students barely have their basic necessities met, no way can enough of them afford to have their own computers with Wi-Fi nor to regularly go to computer shops,” he said.
Education Undersecretary Nepomoceno Malaluan earlier said that they are looking into “Information and Communication Technology-based adjustments” for the next school year if the Covid-19 pandemic worsens.
The group pushed for the following measures to be considered as prerequisite for school opening:
- Cut down class sizes and employ class schedules that will make social distancing possible;
- Hire adequate number of health and utility personnel at the school level;
- Install necessary facilities and utilities such as adequate hand washing facilities and ample water supply in all floors of school buildings;
- Provide needed equipment and internet connection for the conduct of distant learning, wherever necessary; and
- Roll out school health programs that promote prevention of infection and ensure free treatment for every teacher, employee, and student that may get infected.
“ACT further calls on the government to employ a comprehensive approach in fighting Covid-19 and in establishing the so-called ‘new normal,’ following humanitarian and rights-based principles,” the group said.