Opinion

Is the Philippines actually ready to push through with face-to-face classes?

by Christianne Gil Espenilla

May 13, 2022

The Philippines, a country that has been observing online classes for almost three painstaking years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, has finally decided to proceed with the progressive expansion of face-to-face classes.

According to the DepEd order no, 17, s. 2022, the progressive expansion of the face-to-face classes will only be implemented in areas where case transmission is low and decreasing (Alert Level 1 and 2). Out of 48,000 schools, the DepEd nominated 14,396 public and private schools nationwide as safe to resume limited in-person classes as of March 23, 2022. In light of this, only 2.6 million students are allowed to participate in the face-to-face, out of 27.2 million enrollees for SY 2021-2022.

The first pilot testing of face-to-face classes was held on December 6, 2021, Monday. This included 28 public schools in Metro Manila wherein Kindergarten and Grades 1-3 students participated. Commonly, grade 3 students and below are aged nine and below. However, only children aged 12 and above were fully vaccinated during this time. Despite not receiving any adverse reports, how are the students being supervised knowing that physical interaction was one of the students’ main goals in participating in the face-to-face classes? Children are known to play and interact with others, which greatly helps develop their cognitive skills at a young age. These young students tend to be careless if left unattended and could easily disobey the safety protocols.

Previously, the DepEd has been more open to face-to-face classes, including higher grade levels up to Grade 12 students. Despite the given DepEd memorandum, it is not mentioned that all participating students must be fully-vaccinated. Vaccination provides an extra barrier or protection that would help lessen the intensity of the possible symptoms in case tests positive for COVID-19. Being vaccinated has also been proven to mitigate and prevent the disease transmission. However, the student’s health and safety assurance could be at risk.

Next are the possible public transportation issues that the students may encounter. Even before the pandemic, many Filipinos struggled to access comfortable transportation, especially during rush hours. Since the pandemic, far more commuters have been falling into long lines to get a ride or a seat, adding to the high costs of transportation. Recently, plastic barriers were removed in public vehicles, and social distancing was challenging to maintain due to a large number of commuters daily. With these protocols, possible transmission could happen, and the student’s safety could be at risk for being too exposed to public transport.

What makes a school a school without its teachers? From the moment hybrid learning was introduced in the education system, face-to-face students have reportedly said that learning was made easier for them. Meanwhile, teachers, especially those who are not fond of high-tech gadgets, struggle to teach their students simultaneously without assistance from others. Few subjects had to be divided, one for those under online classes and another for those participating in face-to-face classes. Teachers have to create different effective teaching strategies for the two different groups. Are the teachers paid enough to be given extra burden during these difficult times? Will teachers be able to keep up with this setup for longer?

Other factors still have to be taken into consideration before fully implementing the resuming of the all-out face-to-face classes. Continuous mass education and mass vaccination programs must still be carried out. DepEd must give more security and confidence to parents and families that would help reassure that the students will be safe and in perfect health by providing specifications and answers to the questions written above. LGUs and their respective schools must also have a concrete plan as to how they will control a situation if ever a positive case has been reported in their area. COVID-19 testing must remain constant and easily accessible for the community despite the low number of cases. Instead of hard implementation of face-to-face classes on lower levels, CHED must give attention to college and master students who need to practice on-the-ground training with respect to their field.

As guardians to the students and children, staying vigilant and alert is a must. Despite being fully vaccinated and the low number of cases, there is not yet enough room to be complacent in our current situation. While waiting for more updates and information regarding resuming the face-to-face classes for the next school year, let us keep our masks on and continue abiding by the health protocols. It is still better to be safe than sorry.