SAGADA, Mountain Province – The municipal school board suggested to the education department to allow the resumption of fact to face classes in the various elementary and secondary schools in the locality to allow the students to cope up with their studies following the identified problems in the implementation of blended learning that race back to the previous schoolyear.
Mayor James Pooten disclosed that among the reasons cited by the members of the school board in coming out with the aforesaid suggestion is the poor internet signal in most of the areas in the municipality and the low Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, thus, students are having a difficult time catching up with the lessons in the blended learning that has been carried out to the present schoolyear.
Further, he claimed that there are also some areas in the town that have no internet signal that is why students are hard up in catching with the lessons as they have to look for places to access the internet signal to be able to be updated in the ongoing learning process even with the availability of modules.
The members of the local school board argued that the local government does not allow the entry of people in the different barangays as part of the ongoing restrictions that is why the students are ensured that there will be no untoward incidents that may cause the surge in COVID-19 cases as it will be the community people who will look after the welfare of the students when attending the face to face classes in case it will be allowed by the education department.
According to him, officers of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) from the different schools assured that they will help in ensuring the compliance of the students to the minimum public health standards when attending face to face classes to prevent the surge in COVID-19 cases among the student population so that the same will serve as a benchmark in allowing the conduct of face to face classes in the different parts of the country.
Earlier, President Rordrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the interagency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases and the education department for the pilot testing of face to face classes in some 100 public and 20 private schools that are located in various parts of the country where COVID-19 cases are low to serve as a benchmark in paving the way for the eventual resumption of face to face classes in all levels.
He pointed out that students deserve to be updated on their lessons through the ongoing implementation of blended learning even with the availability of their modules. That is why they should not be made to suffer primarily because of reasons that are beyond their control like poor or no internet signal at all.
Pooten appealed to the education department to consider the plight of the students and the PTA for the possible resumption of the conduct of face-to-face classes in the municipality because of the difficulties in the ongoing implementation of blended learning which are beyond the control of the parents, the students and the local government. By Dexter A. See