MANILA, Philippines — Businessmen and advocacy groups threw their support behind the education department’s plan to reopen schools as scheduled next month, saying students cannot afford to sit out school even just for a year despite the pandemic.
To ensure students’ safety though, seven organizations led by the Makati Business Club (MBC) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) batted for “blended learning” for the upcoming school year that will run from August to May next year, with “appropriate public health and safety standards in place.”
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Blended learning is a mix of face-to-face classes and online discussions which the government and schools are studying to adopt for the upcoming academic year when the risk of contagion from the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is seen to persist.
“There are public health risks associated with reopening schools. But if planned and resourced well, we can safely manage those risks and ensure that we do not erase the almost universal access to basic education that the Philippines has achieved before COVID-19,” the groups said.
“We cannot afford the high costs of prolonged school closures to Filipino children, economy, and society,” they added.
Apart from MBC and UNICEF, the statement was also signed by the Philippine Business for Education, Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, Philippine Normal University, think tank Action for Economic Reforms and Knowledge Channel Foundation.
While everyone agrees classes need to resume as planned, President Rodrigo Duterte has flip-flopped on his preferred mode on schooling. Initially, Duterte entirely rejected holding face-to-face discussions, fearing that doing so would put students at risk of infection, a situation observed in other countries like South Korea.
But in a speech last Monday, Duterte backtracked and said he now supports proposals from education chief Leonor Briones to conduct a mix of personal and online discussions, with the former only getting allowed in areas where cases have been managed, and with health protocols observed.
For the groups, another consideration should also be the sufficiency of ICT infrastructure. In poor and low-risk areas where internet connection is bad, the groups said face-to-face classes may be held to maximize learning opportunities.
The groups stressed that ensuring education goes unhampered amid the pandemic is “an essential strategy to reopen the economy.” “Indeed if the outlook is an economic bounce back next year and continued growth thereafter, we should not neglect the continued learning of the youth, who are the future drivers of the economy and builders of the nation,” they said.
Latest government data showed that as of Thursday morning, 21.93 million students from kindergarten to senior high school have enrolled for the upcoming school year, or a total enrollment turnout of 78.9%.
‘The earlier most schools can reopen, the better; the less risk of long-term damage to the learning journeys and well-being of millions of Filipino children,” the groups said. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral