Gov’t should continue developing alternative modes of learning —lawmaker

The head of the House committee on basic education and culture on Tuesday said the government should continue developing alternative ways of learning while schools are yet to open.

Committee chair Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo said the development of blended and flexible modalities of learning should continue so that the alternative system can be used by students.

“Hindi naman tayo puwedeng matulog lamang at sabihing wala nang pasok,” Romulo said in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV.

“Gusto rin nating i-push ang Department of Education at Department of Information and Communications Technology na dapat habang may ganitong declaration…maghanap na tayo ng blended at flexible modalities of learning,” he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he will not allow the opening of classes in the country until a vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is made available.

Amid the threat of the virus, DepEd earlier set the opening of school year 2020-2021 on August 24 and scheduled a month-long enrollment in June.

The department said the possibility of face-to-face classes will depend on the risk category of the areas where the schools are located and the capability of students to study online.

Romulo said he had been opposing the plan of face-to-face classes during their meetings with the DepEd, stressing that the students, teachers, parents, and non-teaching workers will be endangered.

“Kung papapasukin natin silang face to face, ‘yung dating traditional na klase, ang problema diyan kailangan natin silang protektahan. May mga PPE tayo na ibibigay sa kanila,” he said.

Romulo feared that the number of personal protective equipment (PPE) will be short since the country has just started acquiring enough supply for frontliners.

He said the online mode of learning is not accessible to all students as there are those who do not have internet connection and gadgets.

The lawmaker also said that using television and radio broadcast in teaching might not be effective because of the lack of feedback from the learners.

“Dapat ang DepEd, tuloy-tuloy ang trabaho ngayon kasama ang Kongreso. Mag-develop po tayo ng alternative ways para hindi naman po malugi ‘yung ating estudyante sa public schools,” he said.—AOL, GMA News