A group of teachers on Wednesday demanded accountability from the Department of Education (DepEd) officials for their “failure” to implement the department's own policy on the work arrangement of teachers.
“We demand the DepEd management to take appropriate actions on the reported cases of field officials requiring their teachers to report physically to schools,” the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) said after one of its top leaders has tested positive for COVID-19.
Ildefonso “Nono” Enguerra III, the president of TDC-NCR Teachers’ Union (TDC-NCRTU), which is the TDC’s regional chapter in Metro Manila, tested positive for COVID-19 according to test results he received on July 28.
Enguerra is a teacher at Manuel Roxas High School in Paco, Manila. He shared that last July 14, some 30 teachers of the school were asked to report physically for the accomplishment of the Individual Performance Commitment and Review Form (IPCRF) which is the basis of performance rating in DepEd and to prepare them for Google Classroom - one of the common platforms for the distance learning modality of the DepEd.
After several days, Enguerra felt symptoms of the disease including fever, cough, sore throat and loss of smell and appetite. He was in strict home quarantine in Marilao, Bulacan since then and underwent a swab test on July 22.
As reported to TDC, a number of teachers from Enguerra’s school also reported the same symptoms. “The school is now on a lockdown until August 3 for disinfection,” the group said.
Based on the agency’s guidelines under DepEd Order No. 11, s. 2020 - which was reiterated in several clarifications and a formal reply to TDC - “physical reporting should only be rendered after a consultation with concerned personnel and only upon the authorization of the Regional Director.” Given this, TDC pointed out that the work from home scheme should have been the “default set-up” - especially for classroom teachers like Enguerra.
With this latest development, TDC once again urged DepEd to act on the reports from the ground related to physical reporting in schools.
TDC Secretary General Emmalyn Policarpio said that they have 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 last week.
In particular, TDC is asking DepEd to explicitly “prohibit physical reporting to schools for tasks that are not essential and can be done remotely” and “postpone the on-going accomplishment of the IPCRF, releasing of report cards and retrieval of books.”