Back to face-to-face public school classes

THIS has been a very difficult time for the nation’s public school students and the Department of Education (DepEd), like everything else in the national life. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the suspension of all normal activity, especially those involving the gathering of people.

The opening of school year, normally in June, was moved to July, then to August 24, 2020, with a blended learning system devised by the DepEd, combining Internet-based sessions, television and radio programs, and printed modules sent to the homes of the students.

Many households in the country today, however, do not have Internet services or even television. Even in those homes which have these amenities, pupils in the lower grades need supervision by older people such as parents and older brothers and sisters – which many, however, did not have. At the end of the term, the teachers asked the households to return the printed modules earlier sent to the homes. Many were either unanswered or incomplete, a DepEd official said.

It must be said that the Philippines is not alone on this matter. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) came out with a report early this month that about 1.3 billion children around the world suffered from the suspension of face-to-face classes because they had no Internet access.

Thus, the Department of Education is beginning to plan for a return to face-to-face classes as soon as the COVID-19 situation allows it. Secretary Leonor Briones said 1,114 schools have been proposed for a dry run of such face-to-face classes in parts of the country where COVID cases are down. The dry run will not include “high-risk areas,” including Metro Manila, Davao, and Surigao, she said.

President Duterte and the Cabinet approved the DepEd plan last Monday. The DepEd will come up with a list of schools that will participate in the pilot program starting December 28. The chosen schools will undergo orientation and mobilization on January 4-8.

A commitment to shared responsibility in the face-to-face dry run will be made by DepEd, the local government, and the parents or guardians. Stringent health and safety standards will be followed in the home, during travel to and from school, and within school premises. Face-to-face classes will be limited to 12 to 15 per session to observe social distancing.

The shift to blended learning heavily dependent on Internet, television, radio, and printed modules was necessitated by conditions at the start of the new school year. We have learned from that experience and it is time to move on. For us in the Philippines, face-to-face meetings are still best and we hope we will soon have them everywhere in the country.