To help ensure the safety of both learners and teachers when schools fully implement 100 percent face-to-face classes in November, a coalition is pushing for the use of a “Safe Schools Calculator” to assess appropriate ventilation.
“Safety and learning continuity should go hand-in-hand,” said Aral Pilipinas Lead Convenor Reg Sibal said in a statement on Thursday, Oct. 6.
“With 28 million learners returning to school, it’s imperative that we reduce the risk of transmission indoors to keep our learners, teachers, and their families safe,” she added.
Aral Pilipinas is a coalition that works with the government and civil society toward the safe return to schools of all Filipino learners amid the pandemic and other disruptions.
Citing authorities and public health experts, the coalition said that aside from mitigation measures, there is another “key approach” against Covid-19 that needs instilling: adequate and appropriate ventilation in schools.
“As our understanding of the virus improved, evidence for airborne transmission was confirmed and the World Health Organization acknowledged the airborne spread of Covid-19,” the coalition said. “With this, airborne precautions were proven necessary,” it added.
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https://mb.com.ph/2022/09/19/deped-urged-to-issue-clear-ventilation-guidelines-for-face-to-face-classes/
Aral Pilipinas shared that the Department of Education (DepED), through Undersecretary Kris Ablan, is “in talks” with the coalition Pilipinas for the use of an evidence-based assessment tool to help teachers and school administrators determine if a classroom setting is well-ventilated.
The coalition said that the tool, called the “Safe Schools Calculator” will consequently determine the school’s level of risk for Covid-19 transmission and the corresponding interventions needed.
Aral Pilipinas co-developed the “Safe Schools Calculator” for the DepD together with Engineer Joshua Agar from the University of the Philippines Institute of Civil Engineering.
How does it work?
With a plug-and-play function, the coalition said that this calculator is “easy to navigate” because all the user has to do is choose buttons to indicate the dimensions of the classroom, available ventilation such as electric fans and windows, number of occupants, and duration of stay in a classroom.
“Once these have been inputted, the tool will assess which of these parameters will need to be adjusted to meet the 1000 parts per million (ppm) threshold for CO2 levels set by the government,” Aral Pilipinas explained.
The coalition explained that by eliminating guesswork for proper classroom ventilation, the tool offers guidance and reassurance to teachers, students, and their parents, as well as their communities.
“There’s no better time than the present to foster a learning environment free from disease and harm, and we’re optimistic that if the Safe Schools Calculator is institutionalized, we can make this come to life,” Sibal added.
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