A teachers group on Saturday demanded the “strict observance” of health protocols and work arrangements from the Department of Education (DepEd) after receiving several reports of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases involving teachers.
The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), a 30,000-member group, took a swipe at the DepEd leadership for “not exerting enough effort” to minimize the exposure of teachers to the dreaded virus.
The TDC claimed that DepEd is not "acting swiftly on reports" from the field that many of its local officials are still requiring their teachers to report physically to their schools while the default arrangement is a work-from-home set-up.
“This pandemic is a serious threat to life and safety of our teachers, thus, the DepEd should take this seriously as well,” said TDC Secretary-General Emmalyn Policarpio.
Policarpio alleged that after the DepEd Central Office released an order, several memoranda and clarifications upon clarifications, “some field officials still require their teachers to go to school and we never missed to remind the DepEd of this, in many different ways.”
Despite the issuance of directives from the DepEd Central office against physical reporting in schools, TDC said that it has been receiving reports of suspected and even confirmed COVID cases from teachers.
“We have received some information that several teachers who were earlier required to report physically to their schools were eventually tested positive for COVID-19,” Policarpio noted.
“In another report, at least two teachers have observed symptoms a day after reporting to their schools and are now both suspected cases in their localities and had been put in strict isolation,” she added.
Policarpio said that the latest report received by TDC came from Southern Luzon just this morning. TDC was told that some “20 teachers were put in isolation after having been exposed to a colleague who eventually tested positive of the virus.”
The group also demanded the agency to warn its field officials or take administrative actions for those who violate the order.
“Once and for all, the DepEd Central Office should call the attention of the field officials who require their teachers to report physically, give them a stern warning or take administrative actions against them,” Policarpio said.
TDC said that it has already submitted an initial list of Schools Division offices (SDOs) with reported cases of schools that require physical reporting to the Office of the Secretary for their validation.
Meanwhile, TDC acknowledged the formal reply of the DepEd Central Office to its letter reiterating the request for a definite instruction to clarify the intention of the DepEd Order No. 11, s. 2020 or the alternative work arrangement in the department.
In its reply addressed to Policarpio, the DepEd Central Office - thru Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo on July 9 - clarified the work from home (WFH) set-up as the “default scheme which will be used especially for teachers whose main task is to facilitate classroom learning, even in areas considered as low-risk” and that the “physical or on-site reporting is non-mandatory and shall be done in consultation with the personnel involved.”
DepEd also clarified that “only personnel with tasks or functions that cannot be rendered remotely or those in exceptional cases can be considered for physical reporting” and that the concerned offices that require physical reporting “should provide for transportation services for their employees.”
As instructed by the DepEd CO, TDC reiterated that “physical reporting shall be prohibited for schools that were used as quarantine or isolation facilities.”