THE “no vaccine, no school opening” call is understandable coming from parents and even from education workers. This is indicative of their lack of safety and security.
But it’s a totally different matter to hear the same from President Duterte, who no less demanded for emergency powers and was granted such by Congress and who have gathered billions in funds to address the pandemic. Is he implying that the government plans to passively wait for a vaccine instead of exhausting measures to address the health and socioeconomic crisis?
Instead of idly and indefinitely waiting for a vaccine, the government can make productive use of its time and the people’s resources by increasing the resiliency of our education system through, among others, building safe schools, addressing perennial shortages in personnel, facilities, equipment and learning resources, and filling in gaps in learning. Likewise, learning must continue even without an official school year.
The health and socioeconomic crisis, worsened by COVID-19, has exposed the many weaknesses of our education system due to years of state neglect, as evidenced for instance by the PISA 2019 result. Hence the urgent need to strengthen the education system.
The Duterte administration is now challenged to address the array of problems in school safety and security, and education delivery and quality. Facilities and equipment need to be significantly funded for schools to have basic sanitation and health necessities such as clinics with sufficient supplies and equipment, functional lavatories, steady supply of water, proper ventilations in classrooms, and reliable infrastructure for various learning modalities, among others.
The government should address the shortages in schools and classrooms to accommodate millions of learners, while allowing them to observe a four-meter radius distancing to lower the risk of disease outbreaks. More teachers and staff may be employed and provided commensurate salaries and benefits, while also ensuring a proper working and learning environment for education workers and students.
Education support personnel remain scant at the school level, forcing teachers to take on tasks beyond teaching. For schools to function optimally, the government must employ nurses, clerks, and utility workers at the school level, especially as we work towards building pandemic-resilient schools.
The parameters for safe schools also address the problems in education access and quality brought about by shortages in facilities and personnel. Likewise, this opportune time could be utilized to address the ever-inadequate teaching and learning resources and its quality improved significantly.
