Sen. Tolentino: Face-to-face for inoculated grads

Senator Francis Tolentino is asking the national government to also allow the resumption of face-to-face classes for post-graduate students who have been fully vaccinated against the

In a statement, the administration senator said he sees no problem if graduate school and law school students will be allowed by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to attend physical classes for as long as they are fully vaccinated.

He said post-graduate students, anyway, belong to the country’s working-class sector and are already eligible to have their respective COVID-19 vaccinations, so attending physical classes on a limited basis "won’t be too risky".

Tolentino recalled that last February, President Duterte has allowed the holding of limited in-person classes for medical schools and other health science institutions in the country.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has also recommended a gradual resumption of face-to-face classes for academic year 2021-2022, noting that a year without having face-to- face classes will result in a projected ₱11-trillion loss in productivity over the next 40 years.

Tolentino also cited assessments on the declining quality of learning accumulation of the pupils, as well as students in the undergraduate and

post-graduate studies, as he questioned the effectiveness of distance learning.

"The current blended learning curriculum being imposed by CHED and the Department of Education (DepEd) isn’t effective, considering the current connectivity problem of the country’s telcos," he said.

Earlier, Tolentino supported calls for the IATF to allow the gradual resumption of face-to-face classes in low-risk island provinces, while still abiding with existing minimum health protocol guidelines.

He, however, stressed that faculty members and other school officials, and personnel must be fully vaccinated before allowing post-graduate institutions to resume their respective face-to- face classes.