The Department of Education (DepEd) should start planning bridging programs for public school students as part of its preparation for the eventual resumption of face-to-face learning, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo said on Wednesday.

Romulo, who chairs the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture, said it is imperative that the DepEd starts laying the groundwork for the eventual resumption of physical classes while waiting for the government’s go-signal for the resumption of face-to-face lectures.

President Duterte, early this week, shot down proposals anew for the resumption of face-to-face classes in the absence of COVID-19 vaccine supplies, despite the appeal of the education sector.

Romulo agreed with the President’s proposal as he expressed optimism that the Philippines will be able to start receiving the vaccines and rolling out the national vaccination program anytime soon, but the DepEd should be starting crafting bridging programs eventually.

He said this would enable students to catch up on the required subjects they need to complete in school.

“Once face-to-face classes resumes, DepEd should be able to conduct bridging programs eventually,” Romulo said.

“They should start preparing bridging programs…they can start using the same process they use in the alternative learning systems where they test those enrolled in non-formal education. The DepEd should start doing all the groundwork,” the lawmaker stressed.

Since day one, Romulo said he has been consistently pushing for the conduct of pilot face-to-face programs only in rural areas where there are only a few or zero cases of COVID-19 cases.

He said face-to-face classes are definitely out of the question for schools located in the National Capital Region (NCR) and urban areas since these places are highly populated and the probable transmission of the coronavirus is high.

“Until we have no vaccine, I’m very sure NCR and other urban centers shouldn’t conduct face-to-face even if it is on pilot testing. Human life is more important,” he said.

But the DepEd should not be tied to just two modes of distance learning, saying the agency should be flexible enough to adapt to other options.

“Maybe we should defer teaching other subjects and concentrate on teaching students on learning how to read and enhancing their reading comprehension. Maybe we can also teach a little math,” Romulo said. “It’s really difficult to teach under distance learning or blended learning. The quality of education will suffer if we don’t adjust, if we are too rigid. DepEd should be flexible enough and see the reality,” he stressed.