MANILA, Philippines — With classes set to reopen in less than two weeks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday wrote Education Secretary Leonor Briones to urge that a budget for rehabilitating school buildings be realigned to address several distance learning and health concerns raised by stakeholders.
"Around P29.5 billion was earmarked for the rehabilitation of school buildings for 2020...This amount can be used to procure the needed gadgets and equipment for distance learning, as well as address the health concerns of educators," Robredo said.
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She emphasized that rehabilitating school buildings is not a priority at the moment, given the shift to blended learning.
Meanwhile, she highlighted that access to internet has become paramount for many learners who hope to participate in distance learning this school year.
"Data shows that around 61% of 14 million households do not have access to the internet. Moreover, 74% or around 347,000 schools do not have the infrastructure to engage in online learning," the vice president said.
"While we understand the Department has set up the DepEd Commons learning platform for students to access lessons on their own, we have received reports that only 7 million learning platform for students have so far subscribed to this platform. This constitutes only 35% of the estimated 20 million public school students in the country," she added.
Robredo urged DepEd to set up internet hubs in schools and communities to address these gaps in access.
Realign P700 million for teachers' health concerns
In addition to distance learning concerns, she reiterated that teachers are worried for their own health, and are still waiting on DepEd to bare its plans on how it will ensure their safety, amid the pandemic.
"These anxieties are becoming more pronounced given that they too, will be among our frontliners when the school year opens," Robredo said.
Given this, she recommended that DepEd immediately realign a P700 million budget for the in-service training of teachers in order to take the following steps for them instead:
- mass COVID-19 testing with results out before classes begin
- set up a sufficient fund for physical checkups and medicine
- provide supplies such as personal protective equipment, hand sanitizers and other necessary materials
- issue regular and timely hazard pay
- create a system to address health and wellness needs
“Many of these trainings have already, or will be, shifted to online modalities, thus freeing up resources that would otherwise have been used for travel and accommodations,” she said. — Bella Perez-Rubio