‘Walang pasok’ to worsen joblessness, social gaps

No back-to-school till a vaccine is found, President Duterte stated late Monday night. Did he consult educators before declaring the policy? Surprised Dept. of Education officials reportedly spent the next morning seeking audience with him.

The Aug. 24 school resumption they had announced the other week was not necessarily literal class attendance. Distance learning options were in fact being designed – for use on radio, television, and Internet. Twentyseven million learners need not physically go to school till deemed safe. Basic factors were considered, especially the iffy-ness of social distancing among youngsters and a COVID-19 vaccine anytime soon. So what made Duterte blurt, “I will not allow the opening of classes na magdikit-dikit ’yang mga bata. Bahala na ’di makatapos. For this generation wala na makatapos na doctor, pati engineer. Wala nang aral, laro na lang, unless I am sure they are really safe.”

Private educators were thrown into confusion. Even before the pandemic they already were trying out “flexible learning” modules. The lockdown necessitated those all the more. There was a demand from highly educated, well-off parents for review and advanced classes for their children. In the past two lockdown months private school teachers moonlighted in online tutoring in Math, Sciences, Social Studies, Music and Arts. The courses involved parents, who necessarily are part of shaping offspring’s character and critical thinking. School administrators have requested DepEd to relax the rules and speed up approval of the modules. They wanted to start enrollment by June, in order to sustain at least half-a-million faculty and non-academic staff. With Duterte’s “walang pasok” line, are all those options to be put on hold?

In truth, nothing can stop parents from buying the best education they can afford for their children. If the DepEd and Commission on Higher Education are unable to certify Filipino modules, they will go for those from abroad, available online. They will yet make doctors, engineers, and specialists of their scions. Local schools and workers will be left idle. The Coordinating Council of Private School Associations, an umbrella of five national groups, had said in March they may be unable to pay staff salaries beyond two months.

Myopic lawmakers claimed that online learning in pubic schools is anti-poor. Supposedly because penurious families have no gadgets and Wi-Fi they will be left behind, so just keep all schools shut. Problem-solvers think otherwise. For one, DepEd Sec. Leonor Briones says there are 179 million smartphones in this country of 110 million. Meaning, potentially 69 million units can be donated or repurchased for distribution to 20 million Filipinos without gadgets. Usec. Eliseo Rio of Information and Communication Technology, before his resignation was accepted last weekend, had ordered the lowering of spectrum-usage fees in far-flung areas. That would encourage Internet Service Providers to connect rural homes at lower rates, possibly subsidized by government or private sponsors. (Not all schoolchildren, the 20 million Filipinos without gadgets include urban poor workers and rural poor farm and fisher folk. Equipping them with gadgets will also be for app-based contact tracing and livelihood. See (https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2020/05/15/2014050/one-phonecontact-tracing-agri-info-online-schooling.)

Prolonged school closure will widen social inequalities. Rich kids will always have opportunities for educational advancement. The poor depend on free basic school and college under good instructors. Most parents have to work, leaving offspring with neighbors or grandparents. Less educated ones may not know how to handle their children’s out-of-school months – or years.

Norway calculated “conservatively” at 1,809 kroner (P8,823) the cost per child each day of nursery to high school shutdown. Half of that is the lost income of parents who must stay home instead of work. The other half is how much less today’s schoolchildren will earn in the future because their education has been stunted. Incomes are much higher in rich Scandinavia than needy Philippines. But Filipino policymakers can derive ideas. The longer schools stay closed, the more the poor lose.

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Ranting for free electricity during the pandemic won’t fly. It only raises false hopes while everyone suffers income slash. Government can’t force power retailers to stop billing customers. They are themselves being billed by generators, who in turn also pay fuel, transmission, and taxes. Of monthly charges big distributors and small cooperatives retain only about one-fifth, for operations and margin. Take that away and they’ll fold up, employees and suppliers will lose jobs, and homes and factories will black out. More misery than ever.

The Energy Regulatory Commission gives an option to hard-up home users. Electricity during the lockdown can be paid in four equal monthly installments, starting a month or more after lifting. Succeeding consumptions will be paid a month later.

For Meralco, Luzon’s largest distributor, bills during the Mar.-May lockdown can be paid starting June 15 till Sept. Bills incurred thereafter can be paid starting June 30. “Due dates were pushed back to make it easy on customers,” said vice president Joe Zaldarriaga.

For Meralco “lifeline users,” or poor households consuming less than 200 kilowatt-hours a month, the payment is softer: six months installments, June-Nov.

Electricity, like food, is a commodity. In using it up, one must pay to continue to get more. Only deadbeats think they should be exempted, after non-stop air-conditioning, Netflix tele-viewing, and gadget use.