On Tuesday, April 19, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) had expressed disapproval over the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Memorandum No. 29, s. 2022 which required 100 percent onsite work in all DepEd offices in areas under Alert Level 1.
Along with public school teachers, they described the DepEd order as “counterproductive”, “onerous” and lacked “democratic consultations”.
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The ACT-National Capital Region (NCR) said that despite opposition, the DepEd has been silent on the issues that the teachers’ group raised even before the order came out and proceeded to implement it without even consulting the teachers.
Meanwhile, DepEd released a statement earlier on Tuesday, saying that the agency is just complying with Malacañang’s Memorandum Circular No. 96, which states that 100 percent of employees in all government offices should physically report for work in Alert Level 1 areas.
The DepEd said it was an opportunity to improve the implementation of multiple learning delivery modalities, through a more efficient supervision and monitoring of the proper use of learning modules and online media.
Furthermore, it said that with 100 percent onsite reporting capacity, it can facilitate school-level activities, like learning action cells, coaching and mentoring, remedial classes, and parent-teacher conferences.
However, ACT-NCR said DepEd’s relentless implementation of orders is attributed to DepEd officials having failed to understand the situation and needs of public school teachers and generally, the education system.
The teachers’ group also said that the department order will only hold back the improvement of the delivery of educational services, especially with the still existing COVID-19 crisis.
The department failed to prepare schools to host teachers who are overwhelmingly still employing remote learning modalities,
ACT-NCR said, stressing that 90 percent of students are still on distance learning.
ACT secretary general Raymond Basilio said DepEd’s order is mechanical and blind obedience to a policy that does not take into consideration the peculiarity of teachers’ tasks under blended learning and the situation of schools which are far different from the many government offices.
He added that most public schools don’t have reliable internet connection and enough office equipment to sustain the demands of teachers’ distance learning responsibilities.
Basilio further explained that requiring teachers to report to school daily while their students are at home is unnecessary and unreasonable, especially since their work, by nature, is relatively independent and individualized compared to the more collective nature of office work in other government employees.
Teachers should come to school for face-to-face classes and other actual activities that need their physical presence such as for physical meetings, seminars, distribution/retrieval of modules and parent-teacher consultation,
he said.
Our teachers are not against physical reporting per se. For the longest time, we have been asserting for the safe reopening of schools as we see classroom instruction as the best way for our students to learn, especially now that we are experiencing a severe learning crisis,
Basilio further emphasized.
ACT said that DepEd should focus on hastening the preparation and providing for the needs of safe school reopening so that teachers and students alike can safely go back to school instead of issuing premature orders for 100 percent onsite reporting of teachers.
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