Editorial  

The Philippines is a democratic country; thus, the voice of the government should always reflect the voice of the people. 

 

Earlier this year, President Rodrigo Duterte gave his word that he would allow face-to-face classes in low-risk areas by 2021. He announced this with the assumption that vaccines would already be available in September. 

    

 Four months after that announcement and five  weeks before the start of 2021, President Spokesperson Harry Roque said that the government is still reviewing the coronavirus situation in the country before making any decisions regarding the resumption of face-to-face classes. Roque also stated that the Department of Education (DepEd) is still preparing for the possibility of students to go back to the “normal” learning setup.

 

    However, on December 3, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) voiced their dissent to the said idea.

    

ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said that the government should first provide comprehensive safety measures before opening the classes, as he claims that the lack of it caused numerous teachers to be infected with Covid-19 while they were required to have physical reports in schools. 

     Furthermore, Basilio emphasized on the pre-pandemic problem of classroom shortage. According to Rappler, due to classroom shortage, a class of 75 to 80 students are packed into a single classroom that is originally designed to house 40 people. To solve this problem, schools have resorted to class shifting.

He also added that there is also the lack of school nurses, health facilities, and even water supply in schools to consider before pursuing face-to-face classes.

    

Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) spokesperson John Lazaro also pronounced a similar stance. The student group called the proposal to resume the face-to-face classes during the pandemic as “illogical,” and pointed out that physical classes must not be implemented until there are no “greater” health infrastructures available.

     

Numerous student organizations, teachers, parents, and even random netizens also shared their disapproval on the topic.  

        

Francesca Adrienne Kapunan, Chairperson of the League of Filipino Student-Metro Baguio, also expressed her concerns regarding the idea of going back to the regular learning setup. “Unang-una hindi naman kasi talaga sustainable ang online learning… However, the Duterte regime seems to have forgotten the word ‘ligtas’ sa panawagang ligtas na balik eskwela. We should ask the state: Is the decision to resume face to face classes scientific and based on material conditions? Has the curve been flattened?” 

Kapunan added that the possible call of the government to conduct face-to-face might be reckless as the country is still recording “at least 1000” cases everyday. She also emphasized that the lives of the students should be prioritized and must not be risked due to the government’s negligence.

 

For the teachers, Lyn Bardago Manuel commented on an online article that educators, like her, would rather go through the grit of preparing modules than to attend face-to-face classes during the pandemic, where, as she said,  there is a constant threat in their safety. 

 

Antonio Trias Sayson III, a parent, also declares that he would rather have his children “stop altogether and wait for the vaccine” than for them to adhere to the continuation of physical classes. He also called the continuation of face-to-face classes a “death sentence.”

 

Moreover, Ann Laping Aton Oppus, a mother one one, asks the government to thoroughly study and weigh the choices before implementing the old learning setup. She wrote in her comment that it would be better if the students and teachers remain in their houses while  there is still no readily available vaccine as going out is a risk to their lives. Oppus also raised the financial difficulty that people are already facing during the pandemic, and the additional burden when their loved ones become infected with the virus. 

 

    Moreover, the question of who would take accountability for the possible spike of  Covid-19 patients was also raised.

 

    Regardless of the people’s contentions, the country’s senators still urges DepEd to consider physical classes as they utter their concerns on whether students are truly able to learn from the current set-up of online classes.

 

    Chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education Senator Sherwin Gatchalian approves of the idea, and  reasoned out that the “localized and limited” face-to-face learning will lessen the burden of parents who cannot fully teach their children at home.

 

    Gatchalian also argued that if massage parlors can now operate, then face-to-face classes may also be viable as he believed that the situation is already “better” in some areas. Similarly, Senator Imee Marcos and Nancy Binay also emphasized on the reopening of tourism sites and cockpit arenas.

 

    Likewise, Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua explained during a virtual meeting that they are holding on to the possibility of returning to the face-to-face set-up for they acknowledge that online classes are affecting the mental health of children.

   

DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones also assured people that only those areas where there is "low to minimal risk" of coronavirus cases can open face-to-face classes. 

 

    However, Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, who is also the vice chairman of the Coronavirus Task Force in the country, strongly opposes the senators’ proposition to go back to the traditional learning set-up. 

 

Año explained that proper enforcement of health standards will be a difficult thing to ensure as resumption of physical classes means millions of students will go back to schools. He also claimed that the people who are pushing for the resumption of physical classes might not even be held accountable for the possible spike of Covid cases in the country.

 

To add to these, a recently published article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer says that the Department of Health still does not recommend the resumption of physical classes as almost all areas in the country have active COVID-19 cases. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also even stated that only Batanes has no reported COVID-19 case in the last two to four weeks. 

 

Thus, if the government still pushes for the resumption of face-to-face classes despite all the presented contention, then it would only prove that they have been turning a blind eye and keeping their ears shut to the calls of our countrymen-- quite similar to how they ignored the earlier call of the people to close the country and conduct mass testing.

 

    What the government should do now is to consider postponing the resumption of face-to-face classes until they can provide better plans in combating the virus and ensuring the safety of the students. But more importantly, this administration should remember that it is the FIlipinos whom they promised to listen to and not a few people sitting in positions of power.

 

And with President Duterte holding the final decision for the face-to-face classes, all we can do now is to hope that he hears us out. #