SENATOR Christopher ‘Bong’  Go urged the government to extend more support to public school teachers to help them cope with the challenges caused by the Covid19 pandemic.

Go said teachers have to implement blended learning since face-to-face classes are still not allowed.

“Patuloy natin dapat sinusuportahan ang mga guro, lalong-lalo na ngayong pandemya. Hindi madali ang panahon ngayon. Naging mas challenging pa ang pag-aaral dahil nahaharap tayo sa maraming pagsubok, lalo na sa blended learning na ipinatutupad sa mga paaralan,” Go said.

The Department of Education earlier sought approval for the release of its Early Language Literacy and Numeracy Program Support Fund that aims to capacitate K-to-3 teachers and instructional leaders on pedagogical knowledge and skills on literacy and numeracy.

The program seeks to improve reading and numeracy skills of K-to-3 learners, strengthen teachers’ capability to teach, and assess reading and numeracy skills.

The proposed P20 million ELLN Fund will support the training on the Adoption of the Blended Delivery Model for Teacher Professional Development.

A portion of the fund will be allocated for the procurement of learning materials for teachers’ training.

It will also subsidize communication expenses for prepaid internet load to enable teachers, school heads, and supervisors to sustain online training and learning action cells.

The senator said granting this budget is an important step towards supporting teachers.

“Mahirap na kalaban ang virus. May mga banta ng bagong strains. Dapat maging maingat tayo at matuto sa nangyari noong nakaraang taon. Ngunit, hindi puwedeng matigil ang pag-aaral ng ating mga kabataan,” Go said.

The senator previously expressed his support for the enhancement of the digital education platform.

He stressed that until a safe and effective vaccine for Covid19 becomes available in the country, classes must be held through blended learning to protect students, teachers, and their communities.