SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian sought a more aggressive expansion of limited face-to-face classes to jumpstart the recovery of the basic education sector from the impact of the Covid19 pandemic.

The chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture pointed out that the 268 schools that participated in pilot face-to-face classes is only 0.44 percent of the 60,677 schools nationwide.

The DepEd has since updated the number of participating schools to 287 and will push through with the expansion phase in January 2022.

The lawmaker also pointed out that the 23,104 basic learners participating in limited face-to-face classes is equivalent to 0.08% of 27.4 million learners in basic education for School Year 2021-2022.

“If the direction of the next phase is to expand, maybe we can hit 10 percent of the number of schools or 10 percent of the number of students and then gradually open. Because right now, we’re barely hitting the surface, malayong malayo pa tayo,”  Gatchalian said.

“Among the biggest challenges are the issues of inequality in terms of literacy and access to gadgets because those students who have access to gadgets are learning more than those who don’t. So, the longer we put off school, the longer the inequality will grow,” he added.

No Covid19 cases were recorded during the four-week limited face-to-face classes, DepEd said.

Gatchalian said this shows that the safe and gradual resumption of face-to-face classes is possible as long as public health protocols are strictly observed.