THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers urged President Rodrigo Duterte to address the lack of water supply, functional clinics and nurses in schools.

The group made the call following the President’s approval of the holding of the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes in Covid19 low-risk areas starting January 2021.

The group said that these should be the prerequisites to the resumption of face-to-face classes, even in Covid low-risk areas.

“We have had enough of government orders that were not partnered with sufficient funding and ample preparations, as what had happened with distance learning where teachers and learners were ultimately left to fund for the needs and fend for themselves. This should not happen again with face-to-face classes resumption as it poses clear and present danger to the health and lives of the stakeholders,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

Basilio said that low Covid19 infection rate does not guarantee the safe return to schools.

“We ask President Duterte: what do you commit to contribute to ensure school safety in these areas when the Congress-approved 2021 budget effected big budget cuts on school infrastructure and facilities?”he asked.

The bicameral conference panel approved last week the 2021 budget which slashed the basic education facilities funds by P13 billion.

“Our teachers and learners cannot be saved by face masks, alcohol and physical distancing alone. We are dealing with active children here, the best protection for them is a safe, preventive and pandemic-responsive learning environment,” Basilio said.

He called for the installation of water facilities in 3,628 schools. He lamented that only about 600 school nurse items were left with DepEd after the agency’s rationalization program.

“Clinic teachers will not make do under the pandemic situation, we need to hire trained school nurses to monitor the health of our stakeholders and respond to health emergencies in the school setting, especially that health services are very scarce in rural areas,” Basilio said.

He said DepEd needs to hire a minimum of 4,500 nurses to achieve the pre-pandemic ideal ratio of 1 school nurse for every 5,000 students.

“There should also be no compromise in the implementation of the maximum 15 students per class to allow for the observance of physical distancing,” he said.