A group of education workers on Thursday, Aug. 25, urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to come up with an “evidence-based and viable plan” on how to address learning losses brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the persistent deficiencies in education which marred the first week of classes this school year.

“Simply opening the schools will not overturn the learning crisis,” said Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) chairperson Vladimer Quetua in a virtual press conference that aimed to give teachers’ assessments on the first week of classes for School Year (SY) 2022-2023 which started in public schools on Aug. 22.

After two years of distance learning, students at all levels of basic education were finally allowed face-to-face classes in their respective schools.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/21/ph-schools-to-open-sy-2022-2023-with-face-to-face-classes/

The lack of in-person classes, ACT said, has contributed much to “learning crises” --- thus, DepEd should start focusing on education recovery as it allowed schools to resume face-to-face learning.

“There has to be concrete targets on how the deficiencies in education will be filled up,” Quetua said, adding that an “evidence-based and viable plan” on how teaching and learning should be conducted is very crucial.

Recognize school opening woes

During the presser, ACT national and regional leaders also reported on the situation of public schools in the first week of classes.

“The first step to address a problem is to recognize it,” Quetua said. Thus, the group called on the DepEd to make a “truthful assessment of the situation” of the country’s educational system.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/22/same-old-problems-marred-the-first-day-of-classes-teachers-say/

Based on its monitoring, ACT said that many schools have reported cramped classrooms, lacking chairs, flooded schools, and holding classes in condemned or unfinished buildings and temporary spaces.

Given these, ACT also questioned how DepEd could have described the school opening as smooth and orderly.

READ:

https://mb.com.ph/2022/08/22/first-day-of-classes-orderly-and-peaceful-so-far-deped/

ACT also lamented the “gross unpreparedness” of the school reopening that is rooted in years of “state abandonment of education.”

The group pointed out that more than half of schools cannot implement 100 percent face-to-face classes, while 46 percent are doing it under less than ideal conditions proving that “so many things still need to be done.”

Apart from the problems in infrastructure, ACT also noted the “severe” work overload of teachers this school year.

ACT said that big classes were divided into two and alternately attends face-to-face classes and remote learning modalities. However, these were “only counted as one teaching load while the teachers handling them will have to do double preparations and instruction.”

Quetua said that ACT also received numerous reports of teachers who were tasked to teach for more than six hours a day or with a continuous six-hour teaching schedule sans break or teaching six different subjects in high school that entail six preparations daily.

To be able to start with education recovery, ACT challenged the DepEd under the leadership of Vice President and Education Sara Duterte to recognize the school opening problems and set out clear plans to address these.

In particular, ACT underscored the need for DepEd to account for how many classrooms, chairs, teachers, education support personnel, textbooks, modules, and laptops are lacking and push for “ample budgetary support” for the implementation of 100 percent safe school reopening and education recovery.

“Let us not sweep the urgent concerns of our teachers and learners under the rug,” Quetua said.

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