Parents, Teachers Call On DepEd To Hear Their Pleas To Move School Opening To Next Year

Netizens lauded Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go on Thursday, August 13, after recommending to the government to further postpone the opening of the school year on August 24.

The senator suggested moving the opening of classes to October 2020 to give students, teachers, learning institutions, and education authorities more time to prepare given the challenges the country is still facing due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Umaapela ako sa Executive branch na kung maaari ay i-postpone muna ng ilan pang buwan ang pagbubukas ng klase habang wala pang bakuna sa Covid-19. Huwag nating isugal ang buhay at kaligtasan ng ating mga kabataan,” said Senator Go.

The senator said his suggestion also aims not to pressure the Department of Education (DepEd) and other government agencies.

“Kung hindi pa handa, huwag nating pilitin. Bigyan muna natin sila ng dagdag na oras upang plantsahin at ayusin ng mabuti ang lahat ng mga plano sa pag-conduct ng flexible o blended learning,” said Senator Go.

He said his recommendation was in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s original stand of “no vaccine, no face-to-face classes”.

Earlier, Senators Francis Tolentino and Sherwin Gatchalian urged DepEd to postpone the scheduled opening of classes this August to October as challenges of distance education and online learning continue to hound the agency.

Also, a teacher’s group has reached out to Congress for the postponement of the August 24 class opening.

They cited health concerns in relation to COVID-19 and the “obvious failure” on the part of DepEd in preparing for the distance learning modality for their appeal.

Meanwhile, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that only the Executive branch can decide on this.

On July 17, President Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11480, giving authority to the President of the Philippines, upon the recommendation of the Education Secretary, to set a different date of opening of the school year in the country or parts thereof in cases of the declaration of the state of emergency or state of calamity.

On the other hand, the majority of parents and teachers are not in favor of the DepEd’s decision to pursue the school opening this year since there is no vaccine yet.

That is why parents and teachers called on DepEd to hear their plea to move the opening of the school year to next year for the safety of the students and their families.