- NND NEWS TEAM
Stressing that students do not learn from alternative modalities, Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian said on Saturday that he will advocate for a return to face-to-face classes, and push for the allocation of needed budget in Congress to ensure that its trial run on Nov. 15 this year will be smooth sailing.
The distance learning modality does not work for Filipino schoolchildren, Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, added.
“The difficulty with distance learning is that our students do not absorb their lessons. They are not learning and we saw that,” he told reporters on the sidelines of his visit to Valladolid, Negros Occidental, to attend the first flag-raising ceremony at the Central Philippines State University’s extension campus, and the blessing of the CPSU training center and staff house.
“Children do not learn through distance learning,” he said, adding that parents or neighbors have been answering their exams for them. “So the children are not learning.”
The trial run for the face-to-face classes will start middle of next month, and Gatchalian said he hopes that if it is successful, the full face-to-face classes could resume by January 2022 or even earlier.
Of the 120 schools targeted by the Department of Education to hold in-person classes, Gatchalian said that, so far, 40 have pending applications.
“I’m pushing that the 120 slots will be filled up. Then, hopefully after two months, we can go back to full face-to-face classes,” he added.
Gatchalian said the pilot testing is also meant to find out where adjustments should be made and where the budget for the trial run should be allocated.
Of the initial P300-million budget set aside by DepEd for the program, he said the bulk is allocated to ensure that the 120 schools have hand-washing facilities.
Gatchalian also pushed for the implementation nationwide of the Alert Level System (ALS) being imposed by the National Inter-Agency Task Force in the National Capital Region.
The alert system may also serve as basis in approving the applications of schools for face-to-face classes, he added.
“Metro Manila, for example, is currently under ALS 3 which already allows minors to go out and go to the malls. Therefore, they should also be allowed to go to school,” he pointed out, adding that he is confident that COVID-19 infections in the NCR will continue to slide down, consequently improving its status to ALS 2.
Asked if face-to-face classes would be possible even if herd immunity has yet to be accomplished, Gatchalian clarified that Metro Manila is already 80 percent fully vaccinated.
He said that in his home city of Valenzuela, 85 percent of the target population had been fully vaccinated or 15 notches higher than the minimum standard herd immunity classification set at 70 percent.
Local governments like Bacolod, Cebu, and Davao are currently 50 percent vaccinated. Before the end of 2021, these LGUs may already reach 80 percent, he added.
With regard to DepEd priority, Gatchalian stressed that the focus must be centered on how to keep the schools safe.
Malacañang has proposed more than P773 billion budget for DepEd, the biggest among government agencies, Gatchalian added. — GB
