AS 177 more schools joined the pilot run of limited face-to-face classes, the Movement for Safe, Equitable, Quality, and Relevant Education launched its Bantay Balik-Paaralan campaign to monitor the initial implementation of school reopening in the country.

The campaign has hotline, reporting and research components which aims to observe and assess the government’s limited face-to-face program.

“We encourage all stakeholders to actively monitor the conduct of limited face-to-face classes on the ground and report their observations through the Bantay Balik-Paaralan hotlines so that we can recommend measures on how we can hasten and improve safe school reopening. This is our chance to address the many problems that the pandemic and the school closures have brought to the education sector, it is important that we do this right,” Dr. Mercedes Arzadon, SEQuRe Education Movement Convenor, said.

Arzadon reported that the group received concerns regarding insufficient health protection mechanisms and contradictory policies of the Department of Education and Department of Health.

It also received complaints on the mandatory vaccination among school personnel, the lack of clear guidelines on content and pedagogy for face-to-class classes, and the teachers and learners spending their money in making preparations for face-to-face classes.

“These concerns must be addressed early into the pilot run as we do not want them to bog down the safe reopening of more schools across the country. We must also ensure that the time our learners spend in school will be maximized to address learning loss and learning poverty,” Arzadon said.

The Bantay Balik-Paaralan project is also recruiting correspondents in areas where the pilot run of limited face-to-face classes are being held.

Correspondents can be teachers, learners, parents, community residents, church people, local government workers, and others who can make reports and observations regarding the school reopening in their localities.