A lawmaker on Monday urged the Education department to make pandemic preparedness a part of the K-12 curriculum.
Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon Rep. Bernadette Herrera said the COVID-19 crisis showed the need to develop a skills-based pandemic preparedness subject or educational program for children in kindergarten up to Grade 12. This is to help them and their families prepare for future disease outbreaks.
“Pandemic preparedness must be taught as early as kindergarten and up to Grade 12 if we want to create a culture of preparedness and infection control in homes and schools,” Herrera said.
She made her statement even as Senator Win Gatchalian pushed for adequate education funding in the country’s COVID-19 recovery efforts.
He cited the pandemic’s impact on the education sector as manifested in the enrollment in the private schools.
Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on basic Education, arts and culture, said that, based on Education department data as of Aug. 11, 1,554,482 learners were enrolled in the private schools, but only 36.1 percent of the 4,304,676 private school learners were enrolled for school year 2019-2020.
He says the education sector’s P692-billion allocation is the highest in the 2020 budget, but education spending in the Philippines still falls below the United Nations standard, which is six percent of the gross domestic product. Last year’s Senate budget hearings pointed out that education spending in the country is only 3.4 percent of the GDP.
Meanwhile, Senator Christopher Go on Monday urged the Education department to postpone the opening of classes to develop and further improve the distance-learning programs.
He says that will avoid putting an additional unnecessary burden on students and teachers who are still struggling to adapt to the new modes of learning and teaching.
“We can continue to improve our education system and bridge the gaps of learning without giving more stress physically, mentally, emotionally and financially,” he said.
Herrera says teachers should craft lesson plans focusing on the skills that children can integrate easily into their lifestyles and pass on to their families.
“We need to make pandemic preparedness a lifestyle by introducing it to children at an early age,” Herrera said.
“I’m sure children will relay whatever they have learned to their parents and everyone at home. Preparing children for pandemics has to be incorporated in our system, so that any future crisis can be dealt with in an easier way.”
Herrera says both the World Health Organization and UNICEF believe that children should be engaged in some activities to make them understand the protocols of their safety during any pandemic, such as frequent hand washing, social distancing, avoiding handshakes and using a handkerchief when coughing or sneezing.
“It’s very important that children are taught the ways they can avoid getting and spreading COVID-19 and other diseases,” Herrera said.