7 senators urge pilot testing of limited in-person classes in low-risk areas

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 12:44 p.m.) — Citing the adverse effects of school closures on students, seven senators are calling on the government to hold pilot tests of limited face-to-face classes in low-risk areas.

Senate Resolution No. 668, filed by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday, recommends the launch of "localized limited face-to-face classes in the 1,065 public schools as identified by the Department of Education under risk-based assessment, following stringent mitigation measures and strict health protocols."

It adds that conducting pilot tests would "enable the department to gather evidence on the ground and design its framework for the safe reopening of schools."

Sens. Nancy Binay, Francis Pangilinan, Grace Poe, Pia Cayetano, Joel Villanueva and Sonny Angara are co-authors of the resolution.

"[I]t is possible for learners to return to schools for in-person instruction as long as mitigation measures are observed, as there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission," they said, citing a technical report published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in December 2020.

The same report entitled "COVID-19 in children and the role of school settings in transmission," found that there "is a general consensus that the decision to close schools to control the COVID-19 pandemic should be used as a last resort."

"The negative physical, mental health and educational impact of proactive school closures on children, as well as the economic impact on society more broadly, would likely outweigh the benefits," it further reads.

The senators noted that pilot testing "will also lead to the resumption of the feeding program where the delivery of food packs to the beneficiaries will help mitigate the toll of the pandemic to their families and on their well-being."

They also emphasized the importance of prioritizing the vaccination of teachers against COVID-19 to mitigate the risk of adult-to-adult transmission in schools.

'Where are the government's priorities?'

Pangilinan on Monday scored the coronavirus task force for easing age-based restrictions and allowing the re-opening amusement parks, cinemas, and shopping centers at a limited capacity despite its stalling of face-to-face classes. 

"[M]assage parlors can now open. But our schools are not there yet. Where are their priorities?" he said in Filipino. 

Similarly, Dr. Tony Leachon, a former adviser to the task force, previously called its decision to allow minors to leave their homes for recreation "counterintuitive," given the repeated deferment of in-person classes. 

In a sponsorship speech for the resolution, Pangilinan emphasized that students will have to catch up with almost two years of studies due to the pandemic. "The longer we postpone the reopening of classes, the more we add to [their workload]," he said in Filipino. 

In addition to this, the senator sounded the alarm over the possible long-term effects of the sudden shift to blended learning amid the pandemic such as the increase in school drop-outs. 

"We owe it to our students, their parents, school faculty and staff, to be able to provide a safe environment to resume classes." 

"We can only do that if we have the experience — if we know what is effective, proper, and safe to do, and how to do it," he added partially in Filipino.

President Rodrigo Duterte last month thumbed down a proposal to hold limited face-to-face classes, citing the threat posed by more infectious variants of coronavirus.

In addition to the variant which emerged in the United Kingdom, the Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed that it detected six local cases of a more infectious variant first seen in South Africa. 

But vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Monday said the president might agree to hold face-to-face classes and loosen quarantine restrictions in the second quarter of the year if the government can sustain a stockpile of at least two million vaccine doses.

— Bella Perez-Rubio with a report from The STAR 

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