On Wednesday, during the hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, senators have expressed their concern over the government’s decision to reject the Department of Education’s (DepEd) proposal to conduct pilot testing of limited face-to-face classes.
The senators said the government should consider looking at the current situation as it shows that children are out in the streets pretending to be at home during this COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, there were children who were caught swimming in Pasig River in Sta. Mesa without observing social distancing.
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In another encounter, Sen. Piano Cayetano has observed that many children are gathering outside their homes like they used to do before the pandemic.
Are we going to wait until August before they can go back to schools? I cannot understand that,
she emphasized.
Meanwhile, Sen. Nancy Binay thinks that DepEd seemed to lack persuasive powers to convince the President to bring the students back to school. She pointed out that they are allowed to go to malls, arcade centers and even go to Boracay but not to go back to school even at a limited number.
Gatchalian also gave emphasis that children, as human beings, are social animals.
It’s very difficult to prevent them from enjoying Pasig River. So better for them to go inside their schools and get education,
he stressed.
He also acknowledged that self-learning modules were only designed to continue learning, and not to improve the proficiencies of students.
Other senators who backs the call includes Sen. Imelda “Imee” Marcos who expressed her full support over the pilot testing of limited face-to-face classes as she feels bad for the years that will be wasted which supposedly be spent by students learning.
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Sen. Joel Villanueva also agrees to Gachalian and expressed his worry that the country is facing a learning crisis, as he noted that Filipino learners before the pandemic were ranked last in various international assessments and even lags behind Southeast Asian region in both Science and Math.
What will happen to us now if we are getting such data even before the pandemic? How are we preparing?
Villanueva said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto also added that the educations sector is the most essential.
Knowing that we are the last in the region and one third of all municipalities in the country do not have COVID. Shouldn’t the national government just have a protocol, as a suggestion, for example of how to reopen the schools and allow the local government units (LGUs) which have school boards to begin with?
he pointed out.
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