Makabayan solons to gov’t: Implement programs to ensure safe school reopening

STAYING IN LINE The students of Luyahan Elementary School in Barangay Pasonanca, Zamboanga City stay in line while waiting for the instruction to enter their classrooms on Aug. 22, the first day that in-person classes across the country since the COVID-19 pandemic, was declared in March 2020. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ELENA FLORES FACEBOOK

MANILA, Philippines – On the first day of resuming full face-to-face classes in public schools across the country, House lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc reignited the call to implement programs and pass measures to ensure the safe transition into full in-person classes.

Kabataan and ACT Teachers, in separate statements, said the resumption of 100 percent full in-person classes in the country is long overdue, but it should be coupled with ample preparations from the government and the Department of Education (DepEd).

“The national government has done little to help schools prepare for the full implementation of face-to-face classes,” ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro lamented.

Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel echoed this sentiment, noting that the DepEd and the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “did not only fail to champion corresponding reform policies or even funding for the education sector to ensure such lofty goals, but they have issued unscientific policies deceptively ‘normalizing’ COVID-19 that can jeopardize the safety and continuity of face-to-face classes in the country.”

“Worse, we found from our student consultations that the ill-prepared resumption of face-to-face classes has complicated problems of accessibility as students, teachers and parents unfairly carry the burden of expenses needed to make such classes feasible,” Manuel said as he claimed that some schools have also imposed additional school fees for both physical and online components of schooling.

Castro then pointed out that “schools and teachers are once again left to find ways and band-aid solutions for perennial problems of shortages in classrooms, teachers, and facilities and also to follow minimum health standards in schools to prevent the spread of diseases in schools.”

Teachers are more overworked as, she said, they had been airing complaints about extra paperwork duties on top of their long teaching hours and additional hours allotted for class preparations.

“Schools are left with no choice but to hold classes in unfinished or dilapidated rooms or hold three shifts of classes a day. These are band-aid solutions to address the shortages in facilities but worsen the problem of being able to provide quality education,” the lawmaker said.

READ: Since the ’80s, teachers still overworked, underpaid 

Moreover, Castro said that schools, who are already exerting effort to ensure minimum health and safety standards are observed within their premises, “can only do so much with so little support.”

“There is still so much that the government can do to ensure a safe full implementation of face-to-face classes,” she stressed.

READ: Public school teachers bear class opening difficulties 

Speaking in a mix of English and Filipino, Manuel also said: “The resumption of face-to-face classes is not and should not be a token ‘back-to-normal’ objective of forcing schools to open without ample preparation just to mirror the pre-pandemic setting. […] Our united call is for 100 percent full face-to-face classes and a 100 percent safe, affordable, and quality return to schools. Proper funding and policies are needed for this.

Lacking preparations

Castro outlined areas that remain inadequate in the preparations for the 100 percent implementation of in-person classes – medical funds for free treatment of teachers and students who would contract COVID-19, hired school nurses, and ample and available classrooms, among others.

READ: DepEd policies to blame for COVID-19 cases in schools – ACT 

The recent calamities that wreaked havoc in the country, she said, also call for the DepEd to conduct thorough damage assessments in school facilities before schools continue with the full implementation of in-person learning.

“It seems that this administration is too busy trying to change the curriculum to distort history, revise it in favor of the Marcos family, push for a mandatory reserve officers’ training corps (ROTC) in schools, red-tag teachers and their organizations and unions, and fight for a confidential fund for their 2023 budget rather than ensure that there is enough support for schools and teachers from the national government for the full implementation of face-to-face classes,” Castro said.

Manuel, for his part, renewed the push to reallocate a P122 billion supplementary budget for the education sector.

“Further funding can be sourced from confidential and intelligence funds, pork barrel and the National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict,” he noted.

Both lawmakers called for the urgent passage of education-oriented programs and measures like the Safe School Reopening Bill and the proposed act to provide appropriate funds for this endeavor.

“This is what we need to help solve the learning crisis, not mandatory ROTC which will only worsen the existing crisis by imposing more fees and academic load to students and teachers,” Manuel said.

Castro underscored that the DepEd “needs funds to provide quality and accessible education for all. It does not need confidential funds, especially at a time when we are experiencing a worsening education crisis.” –Alyssa Joy Quevedo, trainee

READ: What can you buy with DepEd’s P150M ‘confidential fund’? 

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