UNDER the reign of Covid-19, our life has been altered and our priority is to live and let live. We do not want to see a view to a kill. The Department of Education (DepEd) is trying to adjust its programs and resources to go on with modified classes... controlled face to face classroom interaction coupled with virtual education. That is from DepEd with love.
There is a growing number of local government unit (LGU) leaders who are suggesting to delay the opening of classes. August 24 could be too early. Secretary Leonor Briones said that DepEd will ensure the health and safety of the children and students in schools. The mayors could not just leave the responsibility to DepEd alone because they are co-chairmen of the local school boards. If there will be contagion during the school year, they cannot just close their eyes and blame DepEd.
Precaution should be given priority. Doctor Antonio Ramos of the Lung Center of the Philippines said that if there are more opportunities for community interaction, there are more opportunities also for community transmission. The schools are big communities involving the children, teachers, parents and non-teaching employees. If our senators and congressmen are afraid to come together in an assembly, there is no reason why we should allow our children to congregate in schools.
Here are some of the reasons given by the parents: Covid-19 has not been flattened yet in the Philippines. An error has been recently corrected by the government, we are still on the first wave. The government and the people are expected to work together to end Covid-19 by flattening the curve. If we are careless, we may not be able to control the contagion.
There is no anti-Covid vaccine yet. The words of Secretary Briones alone do not remove the fear and the risk if the parents will allow their beloved children to go to school. The government expects that by August the entire country will already be under general community quarantine. We are not at ease with that because the children, senior citizens and pregnant women are still considered the most vulnerable.
As of today, there is a lull in Negros Occidental because our province has been considered a low-risk area. Conditions may change after May 31 when boundaries, seaports and the airport in Silay will be opened. It will be compounded by the arrival of thousands of overseas Filipino workers who were stranded in Cebu and Manila and the resumption of almost all businesses. Once again Bacolod City and Negros Occidental will be a melting pot... back to normal.
It would be hard to maintain physical distancing in buses and jeepneys even in tricycles and trisikads. Most of the parents do not have private vehicles. During the morning and afternoon rush hours, the children will be scrambling with market goers, government employees, mall shoppers, and individual wage-earners. We are not sure on the effectivity of the crowd-control teams of the government. We already experienced the terminal and mall rush last time.
Parents will not have peace of mind on what kind of health protocol will be done at the school gate. How long would the line be? Is there a proper thermal scanning and a canopy with ozone machine for proper disinfecting? This may sound serious but this is the best way to safeguard the children. Are public schools ready for this? Can this be sustained for one school year?
Getting inside the classroom will consume a longer time because of proper social distancing starting from the gate. It is anticipated that at the corridor there is a washing machine or gallons of alcohol waiting for the cleansing of hands. Parents are expecting that the chairs have been sanitized properly much more if other students have previously used them.
The same thing will happen to teachers. They will be waiting for the children at the gate and after the kids have been sanitized inside the canopy, they will be supervised like cadets going to the classrooms...face masks on, no talking, no breaking of line and with three-pace distancing. The same scenario will be expected in going out of the gate after classes. If it rains hard, the protocol will be broken...to each his own.
As expected, children and students will be using clean face masks. Health experts say that prolonged use of face mask affects the normal coming in of oxygen to the lungs. There is a possibility that the carbon dioxide exhaled could also be inhaled because of the face mask, that is poison. A talking teacher and the responding children participants may not be comfortable with masks for longer hours because it is hot inside the classrooms. They could be tempted to break protocol.
DepEd considers virtual education as another option to be blended with face to face teaching. If all teachers will be provided with one laptop each, DepEd will spend 27 billion pesos. Only few parents have internet connection at home and could afford to buy laptop, desktop, and top of the line cellphones for their children. Most children in the public schools belonging to low-income families are still using Jurassic cellphones. In the Philippines our service providers are moving at turtle pace. Even schools on the air using radio and television may experience broadcast and transmission problems.
Under the reign of Covid-19, business is low, employment is scarce, agencies are on no work-no pay scheme, hand to mouth earners are desperate, and the jobless are everywhere. We are almost sure that most parents have no savings for their children's education. Food and medicines are given priority.
Survival is the name of the game. Some children may attend school at the beginning but may not be able to sustain. Are teachers going to drop them? Last school year we harvested a good number of non-readers in public schools. What can we expect now? Parents want the best for their children. Our teachers are so eager to give the best education to our children. It is their mission. It is their passion. We also congratulate DepEd for making great attempts.
Parents agree with the idea that we have to wait for the vaccine. We have to flatten the curve first and hope for economic recovery. One year is not long enough for a wishful waiting. Only the living deserves education. Stay alive.