A group of teachers on Tuesday expressed reservations on the proposal of the Department of Education (DepEd) to allow limited face-to-face classes maintaining it will only serve to hasten the spread of COVID-19.
Benjo Basas, chair of the 30,000 strong Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) noted, “We have already seen this in previous policies that if restrictions are suddenly loosened, the virus will spread even more just like the result of the Balik-Probinsya program."
TDC expressed hope the DepEd will reconsider and carefully study the matter before it makes a final decision, inasmuch as they urged the department to first ascertain "the readiness of the system and the safety of children, teachers and all citizens."
Instead of mulling over the possibility of holding limited face-to-face classes, TDC suggested the DepEd and the government should focus more on developing further alternative learning modalities such as online, radio and TV broadcast.
“All of these are still not ready and we only have a few weeks before the classes will open,” Basas stressed, urging the government to move the opening of classes to January 2021.