The Department of Education has to lobby hard to be able to persuade President Duterte to allow face-to-face classes in areas with low risk of virus infections, according to lawmakers.
Several lawmakers expressed their displeasure over the slow DepEd action even as the United Nations Children’s Fund noted that the Philippines is 1 of only 5 countries in the world that have not reopened schools since the pandemic began last year, affecting more than 27 million Filipino students.
Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan told a Senate hearing that the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has approved a joint circular between DepEd and the Department of Health (DOH) which lays down guidelines on the pilot test. The circular is expected to be issued next week.
Malaluan said that around a hundred schools would take part in the dry run, which is planned to be held in September oe October.
But the agencies still need President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval before the dry run actually pushes through, Malaluan said. The chief executive has repeatedly rejected such proposal due to concerns over the spread of more infectious variants of COVID-19.
Senators Nancy Binay and Pia Cayetano asked whether the DepEd was sharing adequate details with the President and making enough effort to persuade him to allow the holding of pilot test.
“We’re not saying wala kayong effort, we’re just saying hindi namin nakikita. So may worry kami, concern kami na nakaka-rally ba kayo in the way that other [government] agencies are rallying for their constituents?” Cayetano said as she and Binay noted how the Department of Tourism aggressively campaigned for the reopening of tourism businesses.
Cayetano also commented that a dry run, if approved, with 100 schools starting next month is “still so slow and pathetic.
Malaluan said the DepEd has not discussed its latest and more detailed guidelines to Duterte, prompting Binay to say the agency seemed to lack a “sense of urgency.”
“Why wait for the next IATF [meeting], why wait for the next Cabinet meeting? The Secretary [of Education] can just probably set an appointment with the President,” she said.
Senate education committee chairman Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the country’s education sector should learn “to adjust and live with the virus,” similar to how businesses have adapted to the pandemic.
Gatchalian, citing a World Bank report, warned that prolonged school closures would lead to learning losses that also affect students’ earning prospects in the future.
In response to the lawmakers, Malaluan said Duterte was aware of certain “elements” of the guidelines since they were the same as past proposals.
The education official also assured lawmakers that there is urgency in DepEd to hold the pilot test.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines (COCOPEA) Managing Director Joseph Noel Estrada called on policymakers to subject private schools to separate parameters in determining if they could hold in-person classes.
Private schools have different resources and facilities such as “wider spaces” and open areas, making it easier for them to implement health protocols, said Estrada, whose group counts 2,500 private institutions as members.
Estrada also said the COCOPEA has not been consulted by the DepEd on resuming in-person classes, which Binay found unacceptable.
Malaluan said private schools were considered in crafting guidelines and there is a chance that they can be included in the dry run.
Binay also urged the DepEd to discuss the pilot test guidelines with local officials after Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines President Dakila Cua raised questions on the implementation of the dry run.