Even after it maintained that it coordinated with the Department of Education (DepEd) for community learning hubs, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) said it is “currently evaluating” if it will continue the implementation of the project.
(Photo by Charlie Villegas / OVP / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Vice President Leni Robredo’s spokesman Barry Gutierrez said that “we’ll have to reassess whether that’s something that we can still push through.”
“Has their position changed from last August? Do they have additional requirements because apparently, that’s being part of the secretary’s statement,” he said in an interview with ANC.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones claimed during an online Palace briefing that the DepEd did not approve of the OVP’s community learning hubs.
Gutierrez admitted that the DepEd did not approve nor reject the OVP’s initiatives, but neither did it say anything that it would require their approval.
Robredo’s camp released Briones’ letter in August, part of which said that the department “will be happy to receive further details from your office.”
In the letter, Briones also described the learning hubs to be a “good initiative.”
Gutierrez said the OVP coordinated with local government units, as well as with local DepEd offices, for the implementation of the learning hubs.
DepEd’s central office received the details of the initiative on September 8, a few weeks after Briones’ letter which was dated August 23. The first learning hubs were launched last month.
Gutierrez said the OVP needs to reevaluate the hubs, but lamented that Briones’ statement came from an interview and was not a direct conversation.
“Because the truth of the matter is—and this is where I am really surprised—we have been talking to them continuously. It’s not as if there has been no communication. There has been continuous communication,” he said.
The OVP and its private partners have so far set up 11 learning hubs in various pilot sites nationwide. These are alternative learning spaces servicing 2,000 students who don’t have access to gadgets and face difficulties in their modules needed for distance learning.
Gutierrez maintained that they coordinated with DepEd even about the proposed expansion of the learning hubs.
“This was done pursuant to our original conversation with DepEd when we informed them and they did not raise any objection. We gave them information. They did not tell us otherwise then, we proceeded,” he added.