In order to improve the state of learning in the country, a group of education workers on Monday, June 7, underscored the need to implement “decisive, aggressive, and scientifically backed” measures.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines expressed misgivings on the plan of the Palace to use the number of vaccinated individuals as basis for reopening of schools amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) situation in the country.

On June 3, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a public briefing that the pilot testing of face-to-face classes in low risk areas proposed by the Department of Education (DepEd) is being studied carefully by President Duterte - taking into consideration the developments in the vaccination drive of the government.

However, ACT noted that banking school opening on another “failed promise” of the President on rapid mass vaccination is no longer an option.

“The education sector cannot afford another failed promise, which is what we’ll get with President Duterte’s plan of predicating back-to-school with his snail-paced vaccination program,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said.

Given this, ACT proposed a two-pronged approach. First is to “hasten the procurement and roll out” of vaccines in the country. Second is to “prepare the return to schools in areas with zero COVID-19 cases and those considered as low-risk.”

The group said that in July last year, Duterte promised a return to “normal” by December 2020 based on China’s assurance that the Philippines will be given priority access to its vaccines.

However, ACT said that it was only in February 2021 that the first batch of Sinovac arrived in the country.

Basilio noted that the “1.2 million or 1.1 percent of Filipinos have been fully inoculated” is a “far cry” from the government’s target of vaccinating 50 percent of the population by the end of the year - and a total of 75-80 percent in order to achieve herd immunity.

ACT noted that as of June 1, 2021, the Philippines “only vaccinates on average 144,402 individuals per day which needs to be hiked to 350,000 to 500,000 jabs per day” to reach herd immunity.

“With such poor inoculation rate, our schools may very well remain closed until the end of President Duterte’s term,” Basilio said.

“This is similar to the President’s announcement of ‘no vaccine, no school opening’ last year, which is really just a lazy cop out to a challenging but not impossible task of strengthening the Philippine education system enough to withstand a pandemic without sacrificing safety, access, and quality,” he added.

Meanwhile, ACT proposed that on top of improving the rate of immunization in the country, the Duterte government must also “give equal attention to putting in place ample measures that will allow limited face-to-face classes in areas with little to no COVID-19 cases.”