In response to UNICEF’s call to resume face-to-face classes, Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said on Friday, Sept. 17, that the resumption of face-to-face classes during the coronavirus disease (COVD-19) pandemic will not automatically mean regaining lost learning.
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According to UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore, the education crisis still exists as with each passing day, classrooms are left empty and the devastation [in education] worsens. He also added that losses in learning that students are incurring from not being in school may never be recovered.
However, Malaluan said UNICEF’s claim is slightly misleading because countries which reopened face-to-face classes did not do so in full scale, and also encountered problems. He added that resuming face-to-face classes will not resolve all the matters because there is a real danger that reopening of schools might start an outbreak.
This is not a simple task. UNICEF should also show the other side that those which resumed face-to-face classes are not in full scale, and there are even those going back to online learning in the United States due to Delta variant (of coronavirus),
he said.
Malaluan noted that for the safe reopening of face-to-face classes, the Department of Education and the Health department are still working on the guidelines which have to be approved by President Rodrigo Duterte first before any implementation happens.
We acknowledge the need to reopen schools, especially among kindergarten to Grade 3 given that they are most impacted with lack of social interaction amid the pandemic,
he said.
President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to give his decision on the resumption of face-to-face classes as he did not want to gamble on the health of the children.
Also, the government is yet to authorize COVID-19 vaccination for those aged 17 and below due to lack of vaccine supply.
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