THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers questioned the plan of the Department of Education to ease physical distancing in schools located in areas under Alert Level 1 when the next school year starts in August.

“Matapos ang dalawa at kalahating taon ay babalik lang pala tayo sa dating gawi. Ano ang ginawa ng pamahalaan para gawing pandemic-resilient ang mga paaralan? Nasaan ang mga dagdag na classroom at guro para sa sinasabi nilang ‘better normal’?” Vladimer Quetua, ACT spokesperson, said.

“The importance of reducing the class size is even beyond health and safety considerations because an ideal class size is crucial to the quality of education  our students get especially now that we are under a severe learning crisis,” Quetua added.

“Even before the pandemic we proposed for an ideal 35-student class size. The current normal class sizes of 40-50-60 students would simply not do. Students are too cramped in the classrooms and the teachers can hardly cope with so many students especially since they have to teach on two modalities,” he said.

Quetua added that the Senate Economic Planning Office found that pupil-input ratios “reflect the extent of shortages, especially when disaggregated on regional levels.”

“We oppose the move to go back to pre-pandemic class size. We also advise the incoming Deped secretary to rethink this plan because it would be counter-productive to the objective of holding face-to-face classes in addressing the problems of the education sector especially the severe learning gaps,” he said.