HINIMOK ni Senador Sherwin Gatchalian ang Department of Education na huwag tumigil sa preparasyon para sa pagbabalik ng face-to-face classes.

Aminado si Gatchalian na dahil unpredictable ang takbo ng Covi19, hindi pa matiyak kung kailan papayagan ang face-to-face classes.

“I’ve been pushing for face-to-face learning, I’ve been pushing to go back to face-to-face classes, unfortunately this virus has been so unpredictable,” pahayag ni Gatchalian.

Kinumpirma rin ni Gatchalian na sa kanyang pagmomonitor sa mga lugar na walang kaso ng Covid19, marami sa mga ito ang nagtala na rin ng kaso ng virus.

“In fact, I’ve been tracking the number of areas that are zero Covid. Just to give you an idea, first week of March we had approximately about 455 LGUs that are zero Covid. Today, there are only 152 LGUs that are zero Covid. So, 300 LGUs, all of a sudden, in the span of a month and a half had Covid in their locality,” paliwanag ng senador.

Gayunman, sinabi ni Gatchalian na tiyak na darating ang panahon na magiging maluwag na ang restrictions na pinaiiral.

“I believe that at one point we will go back to a less restrictive quarantine level. In fact, as we roll out the vaccine, we will probably enter into what we call this herd immunity and the possibility of face-to-face classes will increase later on, so the best thing to do now is to prepare. Let’s use this time of no face-to-face classes to prepare,” sabi ng senador.

Kabilang sa dapat na paghahanda ay pagpapatupad ng health protocols sa mga paaralan at pagkakaroon ng handwashing facilities, gayundin ang mga alcohol  bukod sa pagtitiyak na mabibigyan na ng bakuna ang mga guro.

“Let’s vaccinate our teachers. I sent a letter to IATF to prioritize our teachers to move them to the A4 or even higher priority level, so that our teachers and school officials can get vaccinated ahead and treat them as our education frontliners. So when we open schools, our teachers are already vaccinated. Our parents are confident that their kids will not be infected by their own teachers and school officials. So let’s get our school system ready in this time,” dagdag ng senador.