Millions of students trooped to their respective schools on Monday, Aug. 22, as the country reopened schools two years after being locked down in an online learning setup.
However, progressive party-list groups and youth-led organizations urged students to document and expose “both examples of good compliance and lack of preparation” in today’s “Balik Eskwela.”
Kabataan Party-list and the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), along with other youth groups, called on students to “post on social media” or make creative content that would expose schools that either complied to the “Bantay Balik-Eskwela Checklist” or was lacking in preparedness for a safe school reopening.
The checklist was created by the party-list group and youth-led organizations to “help students nationwide assess the safety of their school opening and the quality of their education amid (the) pandemic".
“This will serve as a tool to objectively measure readiness of schools for a safe reopening based on scientific and internationally recognized standards laid down in House Bill (HB) 251 or the Safe School Reopening Bill,” a statement from Kabataan Party-list said.
“Findings will be collated by the end of the week and such data will be used as basis to lobby for the Safe School Reopening Bill, Student Aid Bill and a higher education budget. For safe school reopening alone, a calculated P122.4 billion is needed at least,” it furthered.
The checklist include questions about room ventilation (exhaust fan, carbon dioxide meter, and air filter), school clinic with nurse and other personnel, implementation of public health protocols (physical distancing, contact tracing, and isolation), presence of sanitation facilities (toilet, sink and faucet, water facility, free sanitizer and disinfectant, and free face masks), and free Covid-19 antigen for students, teachers, and staff (daily, weekly, none).
READ: PH schools to open SY 2022-2023 with face-to-face classes
Other items in the checklist are financial assistance for students, teachers, and staff who will test positive to Covid-19, safe spaces like libraries, non-mandatory vaccines and free vaccines if needed, Covid-19 information drive, mental health service, and policies against sexual harassment.
The groups are asking students to do the following:
“1. Disseminate the checklist to fellow students especially student councils in schools that can possibly be reached.
2. Answer the checklist in a collective effort to assess the school's preparedness for a safe, accessible and quality reopening of classes. Submit responses here: tinyurl.com/BBEChecklist.
3. While complete responses will be received by the Kabataan Partylist and NUSP National Offices, students should post on social media or produce creative content to expose both examples of good compliance and lacking preparation of their schools to open the public eye on the education crisis. Use #BantayBalikEskwela in any post. (You may also post answered checklists for your school).
4. Use the #BantayBalikEskwela Checklist as an opportunity to rally support for greater funding for education, safe school reopening and student aid.”
“We encourage students to use this Checklist not to shame their school but as a means to know what can still be improved. The Department of Education, if anything, is primarily accountable for lack of preparedness detected among schools,” the statement read.
READ: First day of classes ‘orderly and peaceful’ so far — DepEd
“We hope to build a movement of students actively taking charge of ensuring their right to education for the benefit of the nation,” it added.
Majority of the schools across the country, particularly public schools, began classes today via face-to-face and hybrid setup.
Unless under special circumstances, most schools will use September and October to transition to full in-person classes by November.
House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro conducted an initial Bisita Eskwela in Apolonio Samson Elementary School on the first day of the school year 2022-2023.
A statement from her office said that more than 40 to 50 students “are crammed in a single classroom so that they can comply with the full face to face classes"
It also noted that “hundreds of commuters are waiting along Commonwealth Ave. due to the lack of public transport".