President Rodrigo Duterte said he will allocate funds for the purchase of transistor radios which will be used for poor students in far-flung areas as schools across the country shift to blended learning curriculum in August this year.
In a late Monday night public address, Duterte reiterated his order that physical classes cannot resume unless a vaccine against COVID-19 has been made available to protect the students.
The President said that the opening of classes will proceed on Aug. 24 using a blended learning curriculum.
READ: Still no face-to-face classes
Meanwhile, the Department of Education announced that more than 10 million learners nationwide have registered remotely in the first two weeks of the enrollment period.
“With this development, we reiterate that we are one with the President in saying that the health of our learners is non-negotiable and no face-to-face classes will be conducted until the safety of all is assured,” it said in a statement, thanking parents and teachers “for supporting our mission of offering learning opportunities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”
DepEd will continue to conduct remote enrollment as it opens the “drop box” system of enrollment, which will be ready starting Wednesday.
These drop box/kiosks, which could be found in barangay halls or schools, will be set-up only for picking up and dropping-off the Learner Enrollment Survey Form (LESF), the department said.
Under a blended curriculum, students have the option to choose from a modular, distance, or online learning, which will need additional equipment and resources.
READ: ‘No vaccine, no school,’ Rody insists
To address this, the President plans to send transistor radios to remote areas in the country to aid students especially those who do not have access to the Internet.
The government, Duterte said will buy transistor radios, which cost around P300, to aid distance learning for students and teachers without access to television, cell phones, computers, and the internet.
“We will try to come up with something in the next few days. Maybe before the end of the week, I would be able to look for the money. We don’t have funds now. I would look for the money to buy transistor radios to be distributed all throughout the country,” he said.
“The radio will be given to all barangays so that the poor students will be able to have communication with their teachers,”he added.
The President agreed to the opening of classes in August, but stressed that face-to-face sessions will not be allowed until an effective vaccine against the deadly coronavirus disease is discovered.
DepEd is now coordinating with telecom companies for the free Internet and with local radio stations for the infrastructure, the Palace said.
READ: DepEd junks face-to-face classes
But the department also said thousands of public school teachers lack gadgets and the internet connection needed for online classes.
A survey of about 700,000 teachers nationwide showed that 87 percent had laptops or computers at home while 13 percent had none, Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said.
Among those with gadgets, only 41 percent had an internet connection. Forty-nine percent said there was an internet signal in their area but they had no connection of their own. Ten percent said they lacked both.
