Senate President Vicente Sotto III has filed resolution calling for the immediate reopening of schools in the country and the resumption of face-to-face classes.
In filing Senate Resolution No 663 filed last Thursday, Sotto stressed the need for the Philippines' education system to catch up with its neighbors' on Southeast Asia, since Filipino pupils and students "did not perform well" in international assessments conducted prior to the pandemic.
"There is no substitute to face-to-face classes, which is probably the best way to arrest the decline in (education) quality and to improve learner outcomes," he said in the measure.
"There are deep concerns that while countries whose students had performed well in the past international assessments are already back on track, the Philippines is still lagging behind using the blended learning method, which to many is not an effective means due to lack of access to internet and gadgets by majority of pupils and students," he added.
Sotto cited the recent report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) finding that Philippines remains one of the 14 countries in the world, and the only country in Southeast Asia that has kept its schools closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As education is the key to any country’s success, there is really a need to start opening up because the Philippines is continually being left behind," he said.
In a radio interview on Saturday, Sotto explained that he was pushing for the actual resumption of face-to-face classes in areas of the country that are already COVID-19-free.
He said a pilot implementation of in-person classes, as pushed by his colleagues, "might be too late"; expressing confidence that it will be successful and will not pose risks to students and teachers.
"I am fully aware that the threat of COVID-19 remains high, there are also reports that the virus is mutating and more variants are being discovered.
But we cannot sacrifice the future of our youth. Our fears should not make us paranoid to the point of making us blind to how grim the future would be if our children do not get quality education," he also said in his statement.
In the resolution, Sotto proposed the adoption of a "selective lockdown" based on the assessment and recommendation of local school boards on whether or not to reopen their schools.