The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines on Tuesday, June 21, questioned the Department of Education’s (DepEd) plan to ease physical distancing in classrooms for schools under Alert Level 1 for school year (SY) 2022-2023.
“We oppose the move to go back to pre-pandemic class size. We also advise the incoming DepEd secretary to rethink this plan because it would be counter-productive to the objective of holding face-to-face classes in addressing the problems of the education sector, especially the severe learning gaps,” said ACT Philippines Spokesperson Vladimer Quetua.
The statement was issued after Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan, in a televised briefing aired on PTV4, said that physical distancing in schools under Alert Level 1 may already be relaxed for the next SY.
Quetua added that an ideal class size matters as this is crucial to the quality of education that students get. Apart from this, he added that teachers will have a hard time dealing with "beyond normal" class size, especially now that they are expected to teach on two modalities.
“Ano ang ginawa ng pamahalaan para gawing pandemic-resilient ang mga paaralan? Nasaan ang mga dagdag na classroom at guro para sa sinasabi nilang better normal? (What has the government done to make schools pandemic-resilient? Where are the extra classrooms and teachers for the so-called better normal?),” Quetua furthered.
Meanwhile, Vice President-elect and incoming DepEd chief Sara Duterte, on Monday, June 20, said that DepEd will be pushing for the conduct of in-person classes by August.