Sen. Gatchalian says 'victory is partial' over class opening due to poor internet connectivity

We cannot claim complete victory.

Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said after the class officially opened on Monday. He note that a lot of teachers and learners are still struggling with poor internet connection.

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I cannot claim complete victory yesterday because if you look at the standpoint of parents and teachers, the lack of internet connectivity became the stumbling block,

Gatchalian, chair of the Senate basic education committee, said in an interview.

In Valenzuela, we launched our own streaming school but without internet connectivity, it’s very difficult to deliver that all the way to the homes of our constituents, so I can only say it’s a partial victory insofar as class opening is concerned,

he added.

Earlier, Education Secretary Briones on the first day of class claiming victory against coronavirus as it opens the school year amid the pandemic.

Gatchalian also urged telecommunications companies to improve their services.

The telcos should step up. It’s now in the hands of our telcos to step up and to make sure that connectivity is available to all of our students…We have to use all tools available and I’m looking at the point of view of our parents and students and I’ve seen first hand that connectivity is a problem,

the senator said.

This is an eye opener for us, moving forward, because if you want to step in into the new normal or the better normal, we have to improve connectivity,

he added.

Gatchalian emphasized the importance of ensuring that both the modules as well as television and radio broadcasts are delivered effectively to the students.

We have to go back to the basics and the basics here is making sure that our children have the modules that they can follow and use to learn and another basic is for our teachers to be equipped to assess the student and also to make other modules or other devices for them to gage the student if they are learning or not,

the senator said.

Another important component is TV and radio broadcast. We have to make sure that this broadcast is communicated properly because I also detected some students who don’t know what time a subject will come out,

he added.

Gatchalian commended the department for its “utmost effort” to open classes. He said that teaching 23 million students, equipping 900,000 teachers and non-teaching staff with the necessary tools to pursue class opening is a big challenge.