At sunrise, public school teachers on Monday, Aug. 22 staged a picket protest at Mendiola in Manila to call on the government to take on its responsibility for the safe reopening of schools amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Teachers from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines gathered to protest the “unpreparedness” of the government to ensure the safe reopening of schools.
For the first time in two years, schools nationwide open their doors to all students for face-to-face classes.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/21/ph-schools-to-open-sy-2022-2023-with-face-to-face-classes/
Before going to their respective schools, the protesters showcased things that teachers bring to school on the first day of class to fill in the government deficiencies.
The teachers brought monobloc chairs, cleaning materials, health supplies, a tent for a makeshift classroom, and a printer for modules, while their lunchboxes contain rice and dried fish as their “meager salaries were drained by expenses for school opening preparations.”
ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua lamented that instead of teachers bringing only lesson plans and teaching materials on the first day of school, they have a variety of materials in their pockets to fill in the gaps in education.
“Sa halip na makapokus sila sa pagtuturo, pinoproblema nila ang mga klase na wala pang klasrum, o mga estudyante na wala pang silya at aklat o modules (Instead of being able to focus on teaching, they have to deal with problems for classes that don't have classrooms, or students that don't have chairs and books or modules),” he added.
Teachers, Quetua said, already sacrificed a lot of things such as vacation and their small salaries just to prepare for school opening. “Pero sadyang hindi sasapat ang limitado nilang kakayahan (But these are not enough),” he added.
Quetua noted that teachers should not be carrying the burden of filling in the gaps in education.
“Responsibilidad ito ng pamahalaan na patuloy na nagkakait ng sapat na suporta sa edukasyon at nagpapabaya kahit nakakapag-alala na ang lubha ng learning crisis (This is the responsibility of the government that continues to deny adequate support to education and neglects it even though the learning crisis is very worrying),” he said.
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