ACT blasts eased physical distancing in schools under COVID-19 Alert Level 1

A group of education workers slammed a Department of Education (DepEd) decision to ease physical distancing requirements next school year in schools under COVID-19 Alert Level 1.

“Matapos ang dalawa at kalahating taon ay babalik lang pala tayo sa dating gawi. Ano ang ginawa ng pamahalaan para gawing pandemic-resilient ang mga paaralan? Nasaan ang mga dagdag na classroom at guro para sa sinasabi nilang ‘better normal’?” said Alliance of Concerned Teachers Philippines (ACT) spokesperson Vladimer Quetua.

(After two and a half years, we will just return to our old habits. What has the government done to make schools pandemic-resilient? Where are the extra classrooms and teachers for what they call ‘better normal.’)

“The importance of reducing the class size is even beyond health and safety considerations because an ideal class size is crucial to the quality of education our students get especially now that we are under a severe learning crisis,” Quetua added.

DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan earlier said that the move was based on the most recent guidelines from the Department of Health (DOH).

Malaluan, however, added that the number of students allowed inside campuses was still limited and only schools under Alert Level 1 and 2 can hold face-to-face classes.

Last month, the DOH pointed out that attending physical classes was crucial for the mental and social development of students

So far, around 80% of schools are ready to conduct in-person classes. The DepEd expected the other schools to follow suit by the coming academic year this August.

GMA News Online has reached out to DepEd for comment but they have yet to reply as of posting time.

35-student class size

Quetua stressed that even before the pandemic they had proposed an ideal 35-student class size.

“The current normal class sizes of 40-50-60 students would simply not do. Students are too cramped in the classrooms and the teachers can hardly cope with so many students especially since they have to teach on two modalities,” he said.

Citing House Bill 00227 filed by ACT Teachers Partylist and the Makabayan bloc, Queta noted that Philippine public elementary schools’ average class size of 43.9 was far bigger than Malaysia’s 31.7, Thailand’s 22.9, Japan’s 23.6, and India’s 40. In public high schools, the country registered an average size of 56.1, higher than Malaysia’s 34, Thailand’s 41.5, Japan’s 33.9, and India’s 39.

According to Quetua, the Senate Economic Planning Office also found that “Pupil-input ratios reflect the extent of shortages, especially when disaggregated on regional levels. While the national average is 38.9 for pupil-classroom ratio, it could go as high as 77 students in one classroom in the National Capital Region.”

“We oppose the move to go back to pre-pandemic class size. We also advise the incoming DepEd secretary to rethink this plan because it would be counter-productive to the objective of holding face-to-face classes in addressing the problems of the education sector, especially the severe learning gaps,” he added. — DVM, GMA News