Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday, March 15, backed the call of a community in Tigbauan, Iloilo for the resumption of face-to-face classes and the establishment of more community learning hubs there seeing as the barangay had zero positive COVID-19 case since the outbreak in March last year.
Robredo is in Iloilo until tomorrow to oversee the community learning hubs there, as well as her office’s various other community-based projects. The Office of the Vice President (OVP), with its private partners, was responsible for providing computers, printers, WiFi boosters, and school supplies to these hubs.
She related that in Barangay Bagacay in Tigbauan, the community learning hub there has been helpful in aiding students and parents who cannot use the modules provided by the Department of Education (DepEd) on their own.
“The teachers here are saying that they have have a proposal for face-to-face classes even in small batches so the students will not be left behind. They worry about the kids who do not receive help back home. They are waiting for that approval of their request since they do not have cases,” Robredo said in Filipino in a video aired live on Facebook.
The community learning hub is serving five to six public elementary schools, the vice president shared, adding that the teachers are the ones who recommend who needs the most help.
Right now, some 210 students are registered to attend the community learning hub.
“These children are the ones who cannot do the modules by themselves. So, they are the ones who go here,” Robredo said, adding that abiding to the social distancing measures is still a challenge.
However, even if these safety measures sometimes hinder the sessions because the teachers cannot accommodate students simultaneously, Robredo said the parents, teachers, and volunteers shared how helpful the learning hub has been.
The vice president lamented that the modules provided by the DepEd for Grades 1 to 3 pupils there is written in Hiligaynon but they have their own dialect in Tigbauan.
That’s one of the main problems that teachers face there since they still have to translate the modules for the students.
Robredo has spearheaded the establishment of community learning hubs to assist students and parents in this time of pandemic. She has been pushing for the resumption of face-to-face classes in communities with low COVID-19 transmission.
As long as proper safety protocols are observed, Robredo said that the learning hubs can help students who have no access to computer and the internet to continue their education. Also, she said that not all students have the capacity to understand the modules by themselves.
“For us, this is what’s good when we personally visit because we can hear the hardships they are going through.”