Teachers' group slams DepEd suggestion to extend classes for up to 8 hours
MANILA, Philippines — The Alliance of Concerned Teachers on Tuesday slammed a plan floated by the Department of Education to hold online classes for up to eight hours.
“Not only will an eight-hour class be extremely exhausting for both teachers and learners, thus direly impacting education quality—not to mention detrimental to their health—but it will also be inaccessible to more learners and even educators," the group's Secretary General Raymond Basilio said.
According to the group, only a maximum six hours of teaching time can be required of teachers "while the remaining two hours is to be spent on other teaching-related activities."
"Any exigencies for longer instruction time shall be compensated with regular hourly rate plus a 25% premium on the same," ACT said.
Otherwise, the group claims teachers would be putting in overtime work for the rest of the school year.
"Our learners who themselves are struggling amid the pandemic will also be spent with classes and other learning exercises. We can almost guarantee that more students and teachers alike will drop out before the school year ends," Basilio said.
ACT urges DepED: Attune measures to 'harsh realities' of constituents
Education Undersecretary Jesus Mateo on Monday told ABS-CBN that DepEd was considering the idea of extending class hours to complete the required number of school days required by law.
“That means that instead of six hours, it can be extended to about seven [to] eight hours in a day just so we can extend the number of hours for the delivery of the minimum essential learning competencies,” Jesus said, referring to class hours per day.
In response, ACT urged the department to "do better by attuning [its] measures to harsh realities confronting its constituents."
The group further cited record-high joblessness recorded by the Social Weather Stations in July, saying this was a "a major factor to the success and sustainability of an already inaccessible remote learning modality for a 'technologically backward, third-world country like ours.'"
"How can families afford to sustain such long hours of internet connectivity when more and more Filipinos are losing jobs? Even those who can once afford costly internet access may not be able to do so for very long. Either DepEd missed the global economic recession or they simply don’t care."
"After risking teachers’ safety in its failed bid to prepare the school opening and further delaying the youth’s enjoyment of their right to education, DepEd is now set to make us suffer the consequences of government ineptitude and abandonment of education by subjecting us to a physically, mentally, and financially draining eight-hour online class," the group said in response
"With the unrelenting health and economic crises, this is just inhumane of DepEd." — Bella Perez-Rubio
Follow this thread for updates on when classes will resume, and how those classes will be conducted.
Photo: Students wearing protective face masks have their temperatures taken while entering their college campus in Manila on January 31, 2020. AFP/Ted Aljibe
DepEd says School Year 2022-2023 "shall open on Monday, August 22, 2022, and shall end on July 7, 2023. It shall consist of 203 school days or as may be determined by further issuance/s in case of changes in the school calendar due to unforeseen circumstances."
Sen. Nancy Binay calls on the Commission on Higher Education and the inter-agency task force on COVID-19 not to "burden" students over requirements for face-to-face classes.
Higher educations students are being required to present medical insurance and other documents before participating in face-to-face classes.
“This is a cumbersome and unnecessary requirement para sa college students, considering that by law, all Filipinos are automatic members of PhilHealth. Sa totoo lang, 'di kailangang dagdagan ang proseso, dapat nga mas simplehan pa,” Binay says.
The Department of Education announces that it will increase the number of participating schools in the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes.
"The expansion of the number of pilot schools will allow a greater degree of experience among all our regions that will serve us well for the expanded phase of face-to-face classes," DepEd says.
With the approval of the Office of the President, the Department of Education is announcing that it will increase the number of participating schools in the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes.
— DepEd (@DepEd_PH) November 11, 2021
Read: https://t.co/cCqC91kZPw pic.twitter.com/Us3GvFxp1F
COVID-19 immunization has started for tertiary students in Ilocos Norte as part of the massive vaccination campaign of the Commission on Higher Education.
This in preparation for the reopening of in-person tertiary classes, CHED-Regional Office 1 said as a ceremonial vaccination of students at Mariano Marcos State University was held on Monday in collaboration with the Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Government, the provincial government and Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center.
About 800 students are expected to be inoculated through the CHED immunization drive.
Prior to this, MMSU had already vaccinated 75% of its student population. — The STAR/Artemio Dumlao
President Rodrigo Duterte has authorized limited face-to-face classes for the following programs:
- Engineering and Technology programs
- Hospitality/ Hotel and Restaurant Management
- Tourism/ Travel Management
- Marine Engineering
- Marine Transportation
Commission on Higher Education Chairman Popoy De Vera, who made the announcement, said the authorization applies to "degree programs that require hands-on experience in higher education institutions under Modified General Community Quarantine."
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