Public school enrolment begins June 1
Published on: Friday, May 29, 2020
By: ManilaStandard
Scenes of parents being allowed to stay for their children’s orientation on the first day of classes will likely not be repeated.
MANILA: Enrolment in public schools nationwide will go as planned starting June 1, 2020, Malacanang said Wednesday.“We will proceed because we need to be prepared. It’s a month-long enrolment and we have to prepare,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview.
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He also clarified President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark on Monday that opening of classes cannot be allowed until a vaccine against Covid-19 becomes available so as not to put students at risk.
But Roque said while face-to-face classes might not resume, the internet and other platforms for learning can be tapped.
“Formal learning will resume, possibly not face-to-face, but definitely blended,” he said.
From utilising community radio and TV stations to internet-based learning, public and private schools in the Philippines have to “adapt with the times” to keep classes going amid the prevailing coronavirus disease, Roque said.
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Formal classes resume on August 24, but whether face-to-face classes would be allowed still depend on whether the country has reached a “new normal” when all community quarantines have been lifted and there is a lower Covid-19 infection rate, he added.
“What is certain is by August 24, formal learning will resume. Possibly not face-to-face (F2F), but definitely blended. We will never expose our children to any form of danger,” Roque said.
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Earlier, a coalition of private schools’ groups urged the government to fund the online and distance education in both public and private schools, amid uncertainties in the resumption of classes due to Covid-19.
“Education is an essential activity, and a critically affected sector. It needs to continue. And it needs government support,” the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea) said.
In another joint statement with the Federation of Associations of Private School Administrators (Fapsa), Cocopea asked the government to allow education experts to work on various modes to deliver education amid Covid-19 while finding ways to assist them in sustaining their operations.
“Suspending school opening indefinitely until the vaccine is found, indeed, alleviates pressure on our healthcare systems on short term but certainly, this will strain and put more pressure on our already failing economy,” said Cocopea managing director Atty. Joseph Noel Estrada.
Estrada said the government would save more in funding the online and distance education of students in schools than providing cash assistance to affected employees “if education is indefinitely stalled.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DepEd) will seek the help of local authorities in the distribution of printed learning modules to students to facilitate distance learning amid the pandemic.
Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said distance learning can be done through printed self-learning modules and television and radio programs if a student does not have access to online learning platforms.
“The way I see it, a lot of Filipinos still don’t have internet access,” he said in a radio interview.
Roque said the Department of Education (DepEd) would have to prepare for “blended learning” in case the new normal is not reached.
He pointed out that blended learning does not only involve online classes since there are still parts of the country without ready access to computers and the internet.
“We don’t get to new normal we’re also preparing for what is known as blended learning. Blended learning is not just online because we recognise that although we’re one of those in the 17th Congress that pushed for libreng Wi-Fi, there’s still far-flung areas without wifi,” said Roque, a former congressman.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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