Face-to-Face Classes

On December 6, 2021, President Duterte allowed 28 public schools in Metro Manila to be part of a pilot run for limited face-to-face classes. This is supposed to gauge how the education system would adapt to the health crisis–an opportunity given with the decline of COVID-19 cases the month before. However, data from the Department of Health (DOH) just showed that the country recorded nearly 3,000 COVID-19 cases on the last day of 2021. This irregular rise and fall in the number of cases just proves that we’re not truly ready for face-to-face classes. Although, it is not entirely to blame.

Two years of online classes barely endured and we are still at the mercy of the government’s poor pandemic response. It’s the sense of urgency that they so seemingly lacked that buried us deeper under the circumstances we are in today. On March 20, 2020, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire stated that there is no need for COVID-19 mass testing yet for Filipinos, despite the calls of the people and the emerging cases of COVID-19 during the time. With all pronouncements and implementations made outside the context of our country’s health situation, they should be held accountable for the mismanagement of this crisis.

As of January 11, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced that limited face-to-face classes are set to begin on Jan. 31 for all degree programs of higher education institutions (HEIs) in areas under Alert level 3. Efforts in getting back to the normal education system are indeed acknowledged. However, simply resuming the face-to-face classes given our present and overwhelming healthcare conditions could possibly just contribute to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in our country. Countless students and activists have been heeding calls for Ligtas na Balik Eskwela. Yet, they are faced with short-term solutions such as limited face-to-face classes, flexible learning, and accommodations to students for online classes. Surely, there are merits from these solutions that should not be discredited. Even so, what poses a better solution is ramping up programs on accessible vaccination, contact tracing, and efficient and free mass testing–one of which the Department of Health itself once regarded as irrational.

We don’t need to sacrifice our health in order to have proper access to education. That is why we must continue criticizing the lapses in the government’s pandemic response and advocate for a safer reopening of schools.