Says pandemic, classrooms lack no reason to keep kids from school
A classroom shortage is no excuse to keep children out of schools, Vice President and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Duterte said Monday as millions of students returned to schools that had been locked down for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We cannot make the lack of educational infrastructure or the inadequate number of classrooms in certain provinces another excuse to keep our children from schools,” Duterte said at the National School Opening Day Program at the Dinalupihan Elementary School in Bataan.
At the same time, Duterte said the pandemic can no longer be a reason to keep children from attending face-to-face classes.
“We cannot afford to delay the education of the Filipino youth any longer,” she said. “We need to get them back to in-person learning because with it, they will get a meaningful, adequate or proper, and quality education.”
Duterte also said the resumption of in-person classes on Monday was a “victory” for basic education, including the teaching and non-teaching staff, parents, local government units, and other education stakeholders.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday reminded both teachers and students to continue observing proper health and safety protocols amid the reopening of classes, saying that COVID-19 remains a serious health threat.
“Since the threat of COVID-19 is still in our midst, it is important that our teachers and students continue to observe the minimum health protocols to ensure that they remain healthy while learning new things,” the President said.
Mr. Marcos welcomed the return to face-to-face classes after two years of online learning due to the pandemic.
He also expressed confidence that with Duterte at the helm of the Department of Education, the more than 28.21 million pupils enrolled in the K-12 system will receive a good quality education.
“It has always been my belief that learning will be more effective inside classrooms where students fully interact with their teachers and fellow students,” the President said.
“Since the threat of COVID-19 is still in our midst, it is important that our teachers and students continue to observe the minimum health protocols to ensure that they remain healthy while learning new things,” he added.
The DepEd said Monday the first day of face-to-face classes was generally peaceful and orderly.
In a Viber message, DepEd spokesman Michael Poa said there were no major incidents reported to them as of Monday morning.
As of Monday, the DepEd recorded 28,035,042 enrolled learners nationwide, which is a slight shortfall from their targeted 28.6 million enrollees.
Poa, however, said parents can still register their children, who will be eventually required to go into full-time face-to-face sessions by Nov. 2.
“We are still encouraging those who haven’t enrolled to enroll as soon as possible. It also bears emphasizing that although we haven’t met our projected figures, the enrolled learners this year is already 101 percent of our figure from last school year’s enrollment,” he said.
In separate statements, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said he expects classes will be held in comfortable classrooms and with complete learning materials as promised by the DepEd, while Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said there must be creative ways in ensuring the health and safety of students.
“Observance of minimum health standards must be ensured as the threat of COVID-19 continues to linger,” Villanueva said.
Gatchalian pointed out that the challenge remains in vaccinating learners, citing the Department of Health (DOH) data that show only 26.94 percent of children aged 5 to 11 years old and 76.41 percent in the 12-to-17 bracket are fully vaccinated.
“Let’s come up with innovative ways and partner with the DOH and local government units. See if we can set up vaccination sites in schools, and encourage more children to get their vaccines,” Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on basic education said.
But the chief of the Public Attorney’s Office, Persida Rueda-Acosta, slammed the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for discrimination and segregation of unvaccinated students in colleges and universities.
Acosta said the memorandum order issued by CHED chairman Prospero de Vera III was unconstitutional and a clear violation of the basic human right to education.
She said it was also illegal as it violated Section 12 of Republic Act No. 11525, which states that providing COVID-19 vaccination cards will not be considered as an additional requirement for education, employment, and other similar government transaction purposes.
CHED’S memorandum order states that “only fully vaccinated students of higher education institutions located in areas under Alert Level 1, 2, and 3 shall be allowed to join limited face-to-face classes.”
Millions of children returned to school as the academic year started on Monday, with many taking their seats in classrooms for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The Philippines is one of the last countries in the world to resume full-time, in-person lessons—sparking warnings that the prolonged closure of classrooms had worsened an education crisis in the country.
Children in masks and uniforms lined up for a temperature check and a squirt of hand sanitizer at Pedro Guevara Elementary School in Manila, which had shut classrooms since March 2020.
The school has adopted a hybrid system of in-person and remote learning as it transitions its nearly 6,000 students back to face-to-face classes by November—a deadline set by President Marcos soon after he took office two months ago.
Grade six student Sophia Macahilig said she was excited to meet her classmates and teachers after two years of Zoom lessons.
“We used to have fun and now I can have fun again,” 11-year-old Macahilig said.
But many students have a lot of catching up to do.
Even before the pandemic, nine out of 10 Filipino children could “not read a simple text with comprehension” by age 10, the World Bank and other agencies said in a recent report.
Only 10 countries were worse off, including Afghanistan, Laos, Chad, and Yemen.
After Philippine schools closed, a “blended learning” program involving online classes, printed materials, and lessons broadcast on television and social media was introduced.
As face-to-face classes resume, old problems persist: large class sizes, outdated teaching methods, poverty, and lack of basic infrastructure—such as toilets—have been blamed for contributing to the education crisis.
Pedro Guevara science teacher Ethel Tumanan, 32, said she was worried that students had missed out on valuable learning over the past two years.
“As a teacher, we really prefer face-to-face, at least we are the ones who can gauge and assess where our pupils are at.”
In the lead-up to the reopening of classrooms, the government has been ramping up a vaccination drive and will provide students with free public transport until the end of the calendar year.
On Saturday, the government began handing out cash aid to students and parents struggling to cover expenses, leading to chaotic scenes outside distribution centers.
In the city of Zamboanga, 29 people were injured when several thousand tried to push through the gate of a high school.
In other developments:
• The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) proposed strategies to combat learning poverty and losses as millions of Filipino students resume their studies on Monday, the start of a new school year that will push for the return of in-person classes at full capacity.
• Before going to their respective schools, public school teachers from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines staged a picket protest at Mendiola, at sunrise on school opening day to call on the Marcos administration to take on its responsibility for safe school reopening.
• As face-to-face classes resume, Philippine National Police Chief Police General Rodolfo Azurin on Monday said he directed police personnel to inform students, parents, and teachers of crime-prone areas to avoid.
• National Capital Region Police Office director Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo ordered all five district commands in Metro Manila to intensify patrol operations to protect children going to and from schools in connection with the resumption of face-to-face classes. With Joel E. Zurbano and AFP