By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones on May 23 responded to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas’ appeal to postpone the opening of schools classes by defending the agency’s decision to push through with classes beginning August 24, 2020.
In an interview with Aksyon Radyo Iloilo on May 23, Briones thanked Treñas for his letter, saying that he does not need to oblige parents to send their children to school for fear of being infected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
“I would like to thank Mayor Treñas because his letter encouraged us to give a more complete explanation. He is not obliged to allow face-to-face currently because the situation in Iloilo, as he himself has described, does not warrant as of this time,” Briones said.
She responded to the mayor’s concern saying that the opening of classes did not mean students need to have physical contact with teachers.
“When we say formal opening of classes, it does not mean exclusively face-to-face. That’s very clear in the first press statement that I made, it’s also very clear in the Learning Continuity Plan, and in the schedule calendar which we presented to the [IATF-MEID] which was approved,” the secretary said.
She said that the DepEd will resort to alternative modes of learning to continue classes amid the public health crisis.
“If face-to-face classes would not be allowed, we will consider other ways of holding classes and continuing the learning process. It doesn’t mean that when we say that [classes will open on August 24], all the students have to come face-to-face with the teacher and go to school because we know that in many places in the country, [COVID-19] is still a problem,” she said.
She said that the DepEd will be maximizing the use of its online platform, DepEd commons.
They will also use smartphones, television, and radio to reach out to teachers, parents and learners.
“Our platform named the DepEd Commons now has more than seven million subscribers, where all the lessons and the tests are there, and we can also use cellphones. There are more cellphones than human beings in this country, 179 million of them. We can also resort to television which has always been a way in which children’s programs have been transmitted. Finally, if all of these don’t work at all, and we need to reach out to children in faraway places, like in the Visayas, you have many islands, you resort to radio,” she said.
She clarified that DepEd’s shift to digital modes of learning had already been in place even before the outbreak.
“Even before [COVID-19], we have already been moving towards the use of technology and Region 6 is very active in this because high school kids from the region keep on winning contests. They’re not only good in science but they’re also very good in culture and language. This was only sped up because of [COVID-19] so the pressure is so much greater right now,” she said.
On May 9, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced that the national Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) had adopted the DepEd’s proposal to open classes on the said date.
On May 11, the DepEd issued Department Memorandum Order (DMO) No. 007 s. 2020 to reflect the IATF-MEID’s adoption.
Treñas’ also adopted the DMO No. 007 s. 2020 via Executive Order (EO) No. 075-B issued on May 20.
But he still raised his opinions on the DepEd’s DMO and suggested continued postponement of classes until the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.
On May 22, he sent a letter addressed to Briones, seeking to consider suspending classes up to 2021 due to the continued onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The letter cited the lack of a vaccine for COVID-19, as well as social distancing measures applied to the city’s public transport system, as bases for the appeal.
‘WITHIN THE LAW’
Secretary Briones also explained the selection of August 24 as the opening date of classes, saying this was based on consultations with multiple stakeholders.
“The selection of August 24 [as date for opening of classes] was a long process. We consulted this with our partners, experts, the business sector, and associations, on what would be the best date. We also consulted our executive committee and our management committee, and then we had a poll survey of more than 700,000 respondents, composed of learners, parents, school employees and the general public,” she said.
She said that the law does not allow for a flexible date setting for the opening of classes.
Executive Order No. 292 or the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 limits the Secretary of Education’s power to set the opening date of classes between June 1 and July 31.
“According to the law, we can open schools from the first Monday of June to the last day of August. As far as possible, we sensed from the respondents they wanted to be as close as possible to the last day of opening of classes mandated by law. We realized that August 28 is already moving towards the weekend, so we thought, and this was also noted by those who answered our survey, that it would be the entire last week of August that would constitute the opening of classes,” she said.
She said that while bills amending this provision are still being debated in Congress, the DepEd had already made its decision to respond mainly to parents’ concerns.
“There are now pending bills, empowering the Secretary to change the schedule opening of classes. There is another bill which clearly identifies the President as the one who will make that decision. Now in the meantime, since those laws are still bills which are being debated, the parents are already asking for a definitive answer,” she said.
BACK TO WORK ON JUNE 1
Secretary Briones also defended the DepEd’s DMO provision ordering teachers to return to work on June 1.
“By June 1, our teachers will have to indicate that they are reporting for work. This is because they had two months already of paid vacation, which is also mandated by law, and so that we won’t have an administrative nightmare,” Briones said.
She explained that teachers only need to notify their superiors by any means that they are reporting to work, saying that this is necessary to justify their salaries.
“What they need to do is merely to communicate, in any form, with their superiors that they’re already reporting for duty. If there is an insistence that classes will be cancelled and suspended, then we have a problem of justifying their salaries. We don’t want any interruption in paying their salaries,” she said.
She said that the teachers will be undergoing preparations to be able to adjust to the current situation, should it remain the same on August 24.
“What they will be doing [from June 1 to August] is to prepare because we have already adjusted the curriculum. They can access very easily the DepEd Commons, the lessons there, their lesson plan, their spaces there, and this and that. They will be undergoing ‘upscaling’, increasing their skills, so that when August 24 comes, they have an idea of what they are supposed to do,” she said.
