Some teachers fear getting COVID-19 from students' school work

Some teachers have expressed concern over the resumption of classes through the modular learning system of the Department of Education amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Mark Salazar’s report on “24 Oras,” one of the concerns of public school teachers is getting infected with the virus when their students submit their accomplished modules.

A 57-year-old teacher who has been teaching for 32 years said she was worried that she might get the virus because she would be collecting around 300 worksheets from students weekly when classes start on August 24.

“Anim na section po ‘yong hawak kong bata. Sa bawat section po, limampu iyon so ‘pag balik po ng module na manggagaling sa bata, walong subject sa isang box ang magkakagulo para kumuha noog activity na nanggaling sa bata,” the teacher said.

“Ano po ang kasiguraduhan na lahat po noong materyales na ‘yon ay hindi po naapektuhan noong virus na ‘yon. ‘Yon po ang kinakatakot ng mga teachers,” she added.

Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said teachers were not required to collect the modules themselves.

“‘Yong mga very creative na paaralan na pinakita sa ating dry run, mayroon silang collection and dropbox system. Mayroon silang mga volunteers, community members na sila ang nagde-deliver at nagpi-pick-up ng worksheets,” San Antonio said.

“At kung gagawin man ito sa school, hindi naman sila dapat mag-violate sa mga health protocols,” he added.

But aside from the fear of getting COVID-19, the teacher said that the DepEd had yet to distribute the modules.

“Wala pa pong pinapadala sa mga teachers na modules para mapag-aralan bago mai-deliver sa bata. Kung mayroon man pong nakita doon sa simulation na ipinalabas, ‘yon po ay mga modules na inihanda ng mga teachers. ‘Yon po ay hindi galing sa opisina ng national,” the teacher said.

“Mayroon po kaming ginawa na mga modules pero hindi po ‘yon nakapasa sa quality assurance na gusto ng DepEd po,” she added.

San Antonio said teachers need not wait for the modules to start creating activity sheets for their students.

“Ang mga teacher na marunong na marunong, hindi naman kailangan maghintay ng modules para magsimula ng mga gagawin nilang activity sheets. Naipamahagi na natin nang maaga ‘yong most essential learning competencies na pagbubuhatan ng lahat ng mga ito,” he said.

Moreover, the teacher also aired her concern regarding the slow internet connection in her area.

She said the P3,500 annual chalk allowance  is not enough to pay for their internet data.

“Sa ngayon pa lang po na nagbibigay ng information sa mga edtudyante ay nagha-hang na po, nagja-jam na ‘yong signal. Paano pa po sa pasukan kung sabay-sabay po ‘yan? So ‘yong sinasabi po ng DepEd na ‘no one is left behind,’ hindi po magkakatotoo ‘yon,” she said.

With this, Diosdado urged teachers with no internet connection to consider using their mobile phones to contact their students instead.

“Eh ‘di i-consider nila ‘yong offline digital modular na hindi kailangan na nasa internet pero nakakapag-communicate sila sa mga bata using mobile phones. Marami namang sang-ayon sa aming survey na mga pamilya at bahay na mare-reach, maaabot ng mga paaralan using mobile phone,” Diosdado said.

He added there are also other ways included in the blended learning mode that the teachers may consider as the country continues to battle the pandemic.