Gatchalian: Experts should study face-toface classes

SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to form a panel of experts that will guide the pilot testing of faceto-face classes in low-risk areas.

The chairman of the Senate basic education, culture and arts committee said that the panel of experts should look at the pilot testing program and resumption of face-to-face classes with a more specialized approach, considering the unique situations of schools.

“Hindi naman ibig sabihin na dahil nag-cancel ng face-to-face classes, titigil na rin tayo sa pilot schools (This does not mean that we will also stop the pilot schools after the cancellation of the face-to-face classes). This is a good way for our scientists to study what can be done to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 to our learners,” Gatchalian said in a Senate panel hearing.

The DepEd is eyeing pilot tests in 1,065 schools.

However, Gatchalian backed the proposal to conduct the pilot program in a smaller number of schools and with a smaller number of students to gather local evidence on the safe resumption of face-to-face classes.

Last week, the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) cited a global study of 191 countries that showed no association between school status and Covid-19 infection rates.

The PPS said the effects of prolonged school closures on health and development, including learning losses, increased exposure to violence, sexual abuse and early pregnancies, can be mitigated if the highest standards of safety measures are observed.

“The damage of school closures can be deeper and longer. During preCovid, our learners did not do well in international large-scale assessments and our national achievement scores were not doing great. And now, because of the lack of access to face-toface education, internet, and gadgets, the learners are left on their own,” Gatchalian said.