Core gov’t response, contact tracing vital to resume face-to-face classes, health experts say

As students, faculty, and organizations call for the safe resumption of face-to-face classes, health experts say that the matter of safely resuming face-to-face classes lies dependent on the core responses of the country to the pandemic.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) have shifted to new modes of learning that do not require face-to-face classes.

However, both DepEd and CHED have yet to make concrete actions to ensure the gradual return to safe face-to-face classes that compromises the quality of education of students.

DepEd, CHED to continue with current set-up

Health Professionals Alliance Against COVID-19 committee member Dr. Lei Alfonso said a prolonged remote-distance learning set-up will create an impact not only to the well-being of students but also to the teachers and families of the students.

“We want to bring back that balance, that familiarity. The kind of routine we've known, and being exposed to the normal human relations which we have,” Alfonso said.

In a speech, education undersecretary for administration Alain Del Pascua said DepEd would still be continuing with the current online learning set-up to address issues in classroom shortages that has always been a pertinent problem even before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, CHED Chairman Prospero ‘Popoy’ de Vera III said the Commission is also planning to adapt the current learning set-up for the next few years as the “new normal” for tertiary education.

Alfonso added that continuing a remote-learning set-up will degrade the quality of learning the students will receive. This is concerning, according to her, especially to the children who are just starting to learn.

Alfonso said there is a “huge equity issue” present with regards to the remote-learning set-up.

“So for example the kids who may be coming from a poor family who don't have access to internet, can you imagine? That was his or her chance to get out of poverty, through education, and yet this happened. They cannot cope,” Alfonso added.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers- Philippines (ACT- PH) member Ruby Bernardo views the said move of DepEd as a “lazy decision” of the government that will only give further burden to teachers, parents, and students with regards to the current learning set-up.

“Our stand on this issue, that does not have a certain basis of assessment, is that it is a direct indication that this is what we’re only going to do,” Bernardo said.

Ineffective distance learning

For grade 7 student Ma. Carmela Garcia, her first year as a junior high school freshman was different from how she expected it to be.

“When I was in elementary school, I expected that when I become grade 7 I would learn so much more, especially that I will be in a new school. That is why when they said that we will only have online learning, I got sad,” Garcia said.

Garcia admitted that the current learning setup has affected her school performance compared to her previous years.

“When I was in grade 6, I was an active student. But now under online learning, I have lost my will to study because I do not know anything about the lessons being taught. Our teachers are only able to discuss little parts from our lessons, I can not understand everything,” lamented Garcia.

Grade 7 student Carmela sits across her sister as they both attend their online classes for the day.

Photo from Carmela Garcia

Compromised learning, lack of teacher subsidy

Meanwhile, junior high school English teacher Krisciel Macapagal said the quality of teaching they give to their students is being compromised because of the current learning set-up.

“When it comes to the assessment of their cognitive learning and performance, you don’t know that their scores are really from their own answers. Unlike before where teachers are really facilitator [and] evaluator of learning, now it is actually collaborative effort between the student and the parent or guardian,” Macapagal said.

The unequal distribution of teaching loads to teachers and the lack of financial support add the burden for teachers like Macapagal.

“I have five loads for online class, two hours of teaching load, ten hours a week. For teachers, [we] also experience stress and anxiety in preparing and conducting online classes because we were not really made for that kind of set-up,” the public school teacher said.

To be able to teach online, Macapagal shells out money from her own pockets in order to afford internet connection.

On June 15, DepEd issued a memorandum ordering the early release of public school teachers’ cash allowance for the next school year.

According to the memorandum, cash allowance is “for the purchase of teaching supplies and materials, for internet and other communication expenses, and for annual medical examination expenses” for the next school year.

Student, teachers aid not priority in Bayanihan 3

Despite the continuation of the distance learning set-up, the 401-billion-peso relief bill Bayanihan 3 does not include subsidies or aids catering to the distance learning and teaching needs of both students and teachers.

In the proposed Bayanihan 3 bill, only P4 billion is the allotted funds for the basic education sector while only P500 million worth of funds is granted for the higher education sector.

Meanwhile, P54.6 billion was allotted in the said bill for the pension of military and police-- overshadowing the allocated fund for programs such as wage subsidies, teaching allowance, and agri-fishery aid.

Ligtas na balik eskwela

Alfonso emphasized that safety is the main concern when it comes to the resumption of face-to-face classes, an action that only the government can ensure.

Alfonso added that contact tracing is one of the key actions in controlling the pandemic.

She added that manual contact tracing will not be effective due to the continuous mutation of the virus, and so a well-handled contact tracing system should be enforced in order to have strong foundational responses.

“The problem in putting into place these responses [is that] they require quick action, and I know many of these people [in the government] know that [contact tracing] is needed. What’s standing in the way is bureaucracy and conflict of interest,” Alfonso said.

The struggles experienced by both students and teachers under the current learning set-up paved a way for the call for a #LigtasNaBalikEskwela campaign.

The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) member Coleen Manibo describes the call as an umbrella campaign made to ensure that even amid the pandemic, education is still made accessible and inclusive to all stakeholders.

She added that the heed for safety resume of classes also considers the situation of high-risk and low-risk areas.

Under the #LigtasNaBalikEskwela campaign are the five student demands crafted by NUSP to represent the calls of students with regards to their remote learning set-up experience.

“We have the longest lockdown and yet we also have the longest school closure. It is clear that the education sector is affected by the failed response of our government to this pandemic,” Manibo added.

Garcia hopes face-to-face classes will come back soon as she was concerned with students who are younger than her that are not well familiar with online learning.

“How will they understand their lessons? Grade 1 students for instance, are not well familiar with how to use the internet. They will find no joy in studying if all they face are their computer screens,” Garcia said.

Macapagal also looks forward to the resumption of face-to-face class. For her, distance learning will never replace the traditional type of learning because physical interaction is important when it comes to learning.

“We humans are born to socialize, not just through social media, We really need to talk, to see other people in person. We are born to do that naturally, it is part of our life,”Macapagal said.

Banner photo obtained from CEGP Facebook page