Resorting to the use of school facilities as vaccination centers for its coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination program bares the “failed” response of the government to the pandemic, an alliance of student councils said.

The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), in a statement issued April 11, slammed the Duterte administration for allowing the use of schools as vaccination sites for the government’s COVID-19 vaccination drive.

In a statement issued on April 9, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) confirmed that it has signed an agreement with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) for the close coordination and cooperation between higher education institutions (HEIs) and local government units (LGUs) in efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

In particular, the the said agreement included the establishment of vaccination centers in campus facilities wherein at least 17 colleges and universities nationwide have rendered their facilities as additional vaccination centers in their respective localities.

“While the establishment of more sites of vaccination may seem like good progress, digging deeper than the surface level reveals that schools having to offer their campuses and facilities for vaccination efforts to be carried out is a reflection of Duterte’s failed pandemic response coupled with the decades-long neglect towards our healthcare system,” NUSP National President Jandeil Roperos said.

With the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program, CHED also started conducting a survey on the intent and willingness of HEIs to serve as sites that can be used for such purpose.

However, this move does not sit well for NUSP. “As the academic year progresses, the current set-up in education proves to be unsustainable,” the group said.

For the the broadest and longest-existing alliance of student councils nationwide, the government should address the students’ demands first forwarded at the onset of the pandemic.

“If there were a medical instead of a militaristic approach to the pandemic, the adjustments by students and educators alike would not have taken place at the gravity it is occurring now,” Roperos said.

In March, CHED Chairperson J. Prospero De Vera III encouraged HEIs - especially those that have retrofitted their facilities - to help in the government’s vaccination drive by offering the use of their facilities.

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This after commission allowed 24 HEIs nationwide to hold limited face-to-face classes effective the 2nd Semester of Academic Year (AY) 2020-2021.

Instead of using schools as vaccination centers, NUSP noted that the Duterte administration, CHEd, and HEIs should be set on “thinking about how to fulfill the requisites for the gradual and safe resumption of physical classes, so that the students of colleges who are allowed to conduct limited face-to-face classes will not have their safety compromised.”

Roperos, however said, that this cannot be fulfilled if the “healthcare sector is severely underfunded and undercapacitated.”

Aside from healthcare workers being overworked and underpaid amid the rising cases of COVID, Roperos said that the lack of structural investment - as reflected in schools having to offer facilities as vaccination sites - should already prompt Duterte for an urgent health-oriented response.

“We have yet to see a swift implementation of the vaccination program. Not only should it be prioritized as a response to the pandemic but also as a stepping stone to achieve a better healthcare system. But ultimately, in all this, the students’ welfare should not be compromised,” Roperos ended.