KINUMPIRMA ni Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture Chairman Sherwin Gatchalian na may P23 bilyong pondong maaaring gamitin ang Department of Eductaion upang magkaroon ng mga imprastraktura sa mga paaralan para sa pagbabalik-eskwela ng mga estudyante.

“I’ve been tracking also the funding that goes to our schools. And there is close to about P23 billion that we can use. That’s for hand washing facilities, putting barriers in schools and practicing the health protocols that we have learned in the past for more than 12 months for example, social distancing,” sabi ni Gatchalian.

Sa gitna ito ng paninindigan ni Gatchalian na maaari nang simulan ang face-to-face classes sa mga lugar na walang naitalang kaso ng Covid19.

“I’ve been tracking what I call zero COVID LGU. In my latest count, we have about close to 200 LGUs, which have zero COVID at all, and these are island provinces, island municipalities, mountain municipalities where people don’t really go there and see anyone. So in other words, for example, Batanes which is an island province, they can actually go back to face-to-face classes already,” sabi pa ni Gatchalian.

Nilinaw naman ng senador na hindi full-blown ang isinusulong niyang face-to-face sa mga lugar na walang kaso ng Covid19.

“Maybe not full-blown, immediately, but the test it the first month, and then learn from it and then go to full-blown face-to-face once we have that experience in play, but if we don’t do this, we will not learn, and nothing will happen,” diin ni Gatchalian.

“A lot of these schools are proposing a two or three-day school week, so that our schools will not be full. They can fill the classrooms with 30 to 50 percent capacity. So it’s as if we would go back to normal, instead, a new normal where students have some interaction with their teachers, while practicing social distancing and wearing masks and other health protocols,” paliwanag pa ng senador.