Defensor urges DepEd to brace for prolonged distance learning up to next school year

Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor on Sunday urged the Department of Education to brace for prolonged distance learning, saying the COVID-19 shots for Filipino children below 16 years old may not be available in the country until the summer of 2022.

“There is a high probability that we won’t have extensive face-to-face classes in the school year 2021-2022, considering that vaccine clinical trials abroad on younger children are just getting started,” Defensor said in a statement.

President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly said he will not allow face-to-face classes until a vaccine becomes available.

“Vaccine developers overseas are still trying to assess the safety of their shots on three age groups of children. They are also trying to ascertain the appropriate dosage for each age group,” Defensor said.

“While some clinical trials on children aged 12 to 15 years old are underway, trials on those aged 5 to 11 years old are just kicking off. Trials on children under 5 years old will be the last to be carried out,” he added.

Further, Defensor urged schools to improve and expand their delivery of online learning as well as modular, television, and radio-based instruction to prevent dropouts and enroll more students next school year.

With the help of barangay officials, he said the DepEd should identify students who have dropped out and encourage them to enroll again next school year.

According to Defensor, some 23 million students are enrolled in public and private elementary and high schools nationwide for School Year 2020-2021. This is down 4.7 million or 17% from the 27.7 million enrolled in S.Y. 2019-2020. — DVM, GMA News