THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers deplored Education Secretary Leonor Briones’ celebration of “mediocrity” on the opening of classes on Monday, and urged her to raise her standards.

“What’s there to celebrate? Another school year of school closure, making the Philippines one of the last in the world to re-open schools amid the pandemic? The lack of gadgets and ample internet support to teachers and students? The still insufficient modules? The millions of children who are yet to enroll?” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said in a statement.

“How can we expect these to be addressed when the DepEd Secretary is already celebrating mediocrity?” Basilio asked.

He said that Briones should stop patting herself on the back for doing the bare minimum of reopening classes while failing to address major issues in education.

“These have major consequences to education access and quality, which you continue to ignore. We are in no mood to celebrate, as seen by various protests from different stakeholders today,” Basilio said.

” What we need from you and what you are mandated to do is resolve these glaring problems in education, and represent our interests by pressing the Duterte government to sufficiently respond to the needs of the sector,” he added.