Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto said the Department of Education (DepEd) should set up laboratory schools that will test the safety of limited face-to-face classes.
“That is the science lesson DepEd should study,” said Recto. “Debates on whether to open classes should now move from theory to trials.”
He called on the Education department to work with the Department of Health, local government chiefs, local school boards, and “the country’s best scientific minds” to design several “classroom settings safe for our children and teachers.”
“For example, begin with 10 students in a room that is well ventilated. Then all will be wearing mask. Constant handwashing. Temperature check. And instead of whole day in school, cut it to half, and limit to 2-3 times a week. Teachers with medical clearance. Complete safeguards. Will this work?” Recto said.
He said these “closely monitored trial classes” can be held in COVID-free areas, possibly in remote barangays or self-contained communities which have not recorded a single case of COVID-19 in months.
Citing the need for immediate experience to help fine-tune the reopening of face-to-face classes, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan proposed that DepEd pilot an initial 100 schools instead of the suggested 1,065, as the department had suggested.
DepEd cited an internal survey that the clamor “is from the learners themselves.” According to DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan, 1,065 schools, or five schools per division, have been chosen for the pilot reopening.
But the proposal was rejected by President Rodrigo Duterte, who said the reopening of classes only begins once vaccination against Covid-19 starts.
DepEd said the possible start of the dry run is in August 2021, or 17 months after schools were closed in March 2020.
Pangilinan stressed the importance of having testing experience so that the country will know what to do once school reopens.
Other senators supported the pilot testing of face-to-face classes in select schools, as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said the Philippines is currently the only country in the East Asian and Pacific region with closed schools nationwide.
Responding to the query of Sen. Pia Cayetano, UNICEF chief of education Isy Faingold told the Senate hearing that the Philippines is the only country in the region that had closed schools the whole time from the beginning of the pandemic.
Faingold also told the Senate committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture chaired by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian that Malaysia, Mongolia, and Myanmar had reopened their schools recently.