SENATORS Francis Tolentino and Christopher “Bong” Go on Tuesday welcomed the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to allow the pilot testing of limited face-to-face classes in areas with low cases of Covid19.

Tolentino said the move is a good step towards normalization and improving the country’s education system.

“We have lots of grounds to recover,” he said.

Since July, Tolentino has been pushing for the gradual resumption of face-to-face classes in low-risk island provinces.

He cited Guimaras, Biliran, Batanes and Camiguin which have low or zero Covid19 cases.

The senator stressed that the distance learning modality — a combination of online and modular learning — is not effective considering the connectivity problems.

Meanwhile, Go reminded authorities to ensure that health protocols are enforced always.

“Importante ang edukasyon dahil ito ang tanging puhunan natin sa mundong ito. Kaya hinihikayat ko ang mga bata na mag-aral kahit na may krisis tayong hinaharap sa paraang ligtas at hindi mailalagay sa peligro ang buhay nila at ng mga pamilya nila,” said Go.

“Nananawagan naman ako sa pamahalaan na ipagpatuloy nito ang pagpoprotekta sa kapakanan ng mga kabataan, lalo na ngayong may pandemya. Ang mga bata ang pag-asa ng ating bayan kaya gawin natin ang lahat upang proteksiyunan sila,” he added.