LOCAL government units should have a say on the resumption of face-to-face classes because they know best the situation on the ground, PHINMA Education President and CEO Chito Salazar said.

He pointed out that LGUs should be given a bigger role in deciding whether to conduct face-to-face classes in areas with low Covid19 cases.

“We have to find ways to, as quickly as possible, return to face-to-face situation. Our recommendation is to possibly, where Covid is very low, we should allow schools to return to face-to-face because we cannot afford slipping further back in our education quality especially for our youth and our kids,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte had ruled out the conduct of physical classes, saying it is too risky.

Salazar admitted that with distance learning, there will always be challenges such as intermittent internet connection.

He said that to assist students without reliable Internet, PHINMA switched to analog.

During the lockdown, Salazar shared that teachers functioned as coaches to guide children.

“We developed modules and we distributed all of the modules for the semester in the beginning of the year so that they will have access to all of the material,” Salazar said.