(We yield this space to the unity statement of various groups and education stakeholders due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
ON SEPTEMBER 13, the new school year will yet again resume under a blanket imposition of distance learning.
The Philippines is one of the last two countries across the globe whose schools remain indefinitely closed since the pandemic started in 2020. The President has rejected at least three times the proposals to re-open schools in areas considered to be at low risk for a COVID-19 outbreak, without providing a clear roadmap on how and when it plans to do so.
Neither has the Duterte administration implemented measures to address the dire issues in education access and quality under its remote learning program. This abandonment of education was made even clearer in the government’s 2022 proposed budget which failed to provide the requisites for the safe delivery of accessible quality education amid the pandemic. Millions of youth and education workers will again be subjected to the under-supported and onerous distance learning amidst the raging pandemic and worsening economic crisis.
With clear indications of grave learning loss and serious negative impacts on the youth’s inviolable right to accessible quality education and on the welfare and rights of education workers – education stakeholders, including students, teachers, parents, and health experts, are jointly issuing a five-point demand to the Duterte administration:
1. Roll out a clear plan for the immediate safe conduct of limited and voluntary in-classroom learning in zero-case and low-risk areas, and provide a roadmap to the eventual safe reopening of schools across the country;
2. Provide the needed teaching and learning resources for distance learning;
3. Ensure the provision of health protection and payment of just benefits to education workers;
4. Allocate higher budget to education in 2022;
5. Implement genuine academic ease
The education sector stands together with the Filipino people in demanding better state services and support, especially amidst the mounting health and socio-economic crises, and in holding to account the criminally negligent Duterte administration. In the interest of millions of youth, education workers, and the nation, we call for “Ligtas Na Balik-Paaralan!”
(National Union of Students of the Philippines; NNARA-Youth; ACT NCR; Coalition for People’s Right to Health; Amihan; Gabriela Marikina; Salinlahi; Kabataan party-list; ACT Teachers party-list; Bagong Alyansang Makabayan)
