Opening of classes only ‘partial’ victory for Philippines’ education sector —Gatchalian

The opening of classes this week can only be considered a partial "victory" for the Philippine education sector, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said on Tuesday.

"I cannot claim complete victory yesterday because if you look at the standpoint of parents and teachers, the lack of internet connectivity became the stumbling block," Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on basic education, said in an interview on ANC.

"I can only say it's a partial victory in so far as class opening is concerned. The telcos should step up. It's now in the hands of the telcos to step up and to make sure connectivity is available to all students," he added.

Having conducted an ocular inspection in Valenzuela City on Monday, Gatchalian said he personally witnessed how difficult it was for students to adjust to blended forms of learning, especially as not all of them are privileged to access gadgets and the internet.

While acknowledging the importance of self-learning modules as well as TV- and radio-based instructions, the senator also said some lessons are simply complex.

"Yesterday I went to a Grade 10 student and they were teaching fractions, they were teaching mathematics. It's very difficult to absorb all of these complicated subjects without the assistance of a teacher or without any visual assistance," he said.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Monday claimed "victory" as School Year 2020-2021 officially started.

A day after, she clarified that the Department of Education (DepEd) is "not claiming the success of blended learning" and said that the monitoring efforts are ongoing.

She added that the DepEd will play by ear in resolving challenges as they come.

Gatchalian said deploying "roving teachers" could be the solution if the present blended forms of learning would be assessed to be ineffective.

"After a month of this school opening, we'll have to assess whether the kids are learning. If the kids are not absorbing them, we have to do another innovation," he said.

The roving teachers could teach a small number of students depending on the location and risks, according to the senator.

He added that the DepEd is already exploring this strategy.

Over 24 million students have enrolled in the K-12 program in public and private schools nationwide despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the DepEd. Face to face classes are still not allowed to prevent the transmission of the virus. — BM, GMA News