CHR welcomes DepEd encouragement of face-to-face classes

The Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday lauded the Department of Education (DepEd) for encouraging all schools to return to holding in-person classes for the upcoming school year.

In a statement, CHR Executive Director Jacqueline Ann De Guia said that they will give their staunch support to DepEd as the right to education "is intrinsic to the exercise of other human rights."

"Education, supposedly the greatest equalizer, has posed to further divide and alienate the most marginalized children in our society, placing them at greater risk of exploitation and a lifetime of poverty," De Guia said.

“Ensuring every Filipino child's right to education grants them an opportunity to better their lives. It also bridges economic and social gaps--such as productivity, gender inequality, healthcare accessibility, and other issues--that hamper our nation-building," she added.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier said that the department is expecting that all schools in the country will hold face-to-face classes by June amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to DepEd, 73 percent of public schools have already returned to face-to-face classes.

Private schools, however, remain to be a challenge with only 676 of the 16,000 schools having reverted to the conduct of physical classes.

Previously, the Department of Health (DOH) pointed out that attending physical classes is crucial for the mental and social development of students.

DOH said that face-to-face classes allow children to develop their cognitive and social skills.

"F2F promotes physical and mental health and well-being. This is based on the latest scientific evidence," the department said.

Steady and progressive F2F

De Guia expressed hope for the steady and progressive expansion of face-to-face learning, while maintaining strict adherence to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

She also recognized DepEd’s exploration of the effectiveness of blended learning setup to address parents’ hesitancy of having their children participate in in-person classes.

“CHR implores our incoming leaders to make accessible and quality education a priority investment for the next administration,” De Guia stressed.

“May the glaring inequalities among literacy and proficiency among our youth that the pandemic has underlined be urgently acted on, with the education sector at the very helm,” she added. — BM, GMA News