‘Resolve teachers’ issues before in-person classes’

MANILA, Philippines —The government should first address the concerns of teachers before starting limited in-person classes this school year, Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas said on Sunday.

These concerns, Vargas said, range from additional hazard pay, enforcement of COVID-19 health protocols and identifying courses where in-person classes were indispensable.

“Health and safety should be a priority. All bases must be covered, and all protective measures should be in place, and the protocols clearly stated and known by all. We don’t want [in-person] classes to be spreader events,” he said in a statement.

Vargas earlier filed House Resolution No. 2204, urging Congress to look into the implementation of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) distance learning and its proposal to conduct limited in-person classes.

More tech-based training

In filing the resolution, the lawmaker pointed out the concerns raised by teachers and educational groups “on the need for more technology-based training and support for teachers and more effective ways to teach practical exercises especially to senior high school students.”

He cited that the DepEd and the Department of Health have jointly proposed the pilot run for limited [in-person] classes in 120 schools in low-risk areas in the country.

On Sept. 13, the DepEd opened classes for school year 2021-2022 still through distance learning as the country continues to grapple with the pandemic.

As of Sept. 15, the DepEd recorded 26,308,875 enrollees, higher than the 26,227,022 enrollees last year.

President Duterte earlier thumbed down proposals to resume in-person classes in the country, saying he could not “gamble on the health of the children.”

Where are the laptops?

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party list contested the DepEd’s claim during a budget hearing in Congress on the supposed number of laptops provided to public school teachers.

Based on a survey conducted from Aug. 23 to Aug. 31, the ACT found that only 7 percent of teachers from the National Capital Region and 14 percent from other regions would be using laptops distributed by the DepEd for the school year 2021 to 2022.

“According to [the] DepEd’s claims, about 34 percent of public school teachers should by now be using [the] DepEd-issued laptops, but that is far from the truth as noted by teachers themselves,” Raymond Basilio, secretary-general of ACT, said on Sunday.

During the hearing on Sept. 15, Education Undersecretary Alain Pascua said that under the Bayanihan 2, the DepEd would be deploying 40,000 laptops to teachers.

ACT questioned the 211,000 laptops acquired in 2019 “as these were not reflected in the 2019 DepEd budget.”

The group said Pascua was more likely to be referring to the total number of laptops purchased the previous years, “many of which are no longer serviceable or had specs that [do] not meet the requirements of distance learning.”