By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos
December 26, 2020
Duterte gave the latest directive after a new strain of
Covid-19, which was allegedly more infectious, has been detected in the United
Kingdom (UK) and has already been reported in other neighboring countries like
Malaysia.
In his meeting with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the
Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and infectious diseases
experts, Duterte said he could not put the lives of learners at risk.
“I have allowed the face-to-face classes as pilot
projects all over the country,” he said. “I’m calling back the order and I will
not allow face-to-face classes of children until we are through with this. We
have to, I said, we have to know the nature of the germ that we are
confronting. Wala pa tayong alam (We
know nothing yet). I cannot take the risk of allowing the children.”
Duterte admitted that it would be a “disaster,” should
he allow the planned resumption of face-to-face classes to push through in
January next year.
“That would be a disaster actually. So (we have to be)
mindful of that: I am canceling the order I gave a few days ago – a few weeks
ago – to Secretary (Leonor Magtolis) Briones of the Education Department to
suspend everything, all activities of children, especially ‘yung (the) face-to-face
classes,” he said.
On December 14, Duterte gave his nod to the proposed
conduct of a dry run of face-to-face classes in select schools in areas that
will be considered at low risk for Covid-19.
In a statement sent to Palace reporters, Presidential
Spokesperson Harry Roque said Briones would heed Duterte’s fresh directive.
“On her part, DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones will
implement the President’s instruction to recall limited face-to-face classes,”
Roque said.
The DepEd was supposed to start the pilot implementation
of face-to-face classes in areas categorized as low-risk areas under modified
general community quarantine in January next year.
Before Duterte’s latest order, the DepEd planned to make
the participation of learners in the pilot study to be voluntary with the
requisite permit issued by the parents.
The proposed face-to-face classes will also not be held
for the full week schedule and with reduced class size to observe proper
physical distancing within the classroom. (PNA)
