SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday called for the conduct of limited face-to-face classes in areas with few or no coronavirus cases.

Gatchalian pitched the idea of holding limited face-to-face classes through ‘purok workshops’ to help address persisting distance learning woes.

The lawmaker said that ‘roving teachers’ and learning support aides hired by the Department of Education can be deployed in villages to teach a small group of up to ten children.

“Kung unti-unti na nating binubuksan ang mga negosyo, nararapat lang na pahintulutan na rin nating magkaroon ng limitadong face-to-face classes sa mga lugar na maituturing nating low-risk areas. Ang ating panukala ay gawin ang mga ito sa mga purok ng ating mga komunidad kung saan ang mga maliliit na grupo ng mga mag-aaral ay maaaring gabayan ng mga guro,” the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture said.

By mounting purok workshops in low-risk areas, Gatchalian said that the learners will receive proper guidance from teachers and have social interaction, which they have not been able to do since the imposition of lockdown measures in March.

As of November 7, there were less than 500 municipalities that have zero cases of Covid19, according to the University of the Philippines’ tracker.

Gatchalian said that connectivity is the top challenge that hound learners and teachers.

He cited the case of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao where only 20 percent of learners and educators can connect to the internet.

The senator observed that even if distributing self-learning modules is an option for more than 22 million public school learners, some subjects are difficult to understand without the guidance of a teacher.

He added that not all parents or guardians are capable of guiding learners in their lessons.

“Bagama’t malaking hamon ang kinakaharap ng sektor ng edukasyon at marami sa atin ang naninibago, mahalagang patuloy tayong humanap ng paraan upang maging mabisa ang pagpapatuloy ng edukasyon sa gitna ng pandemya,” he said.