THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers denounced the presence of a police officer carrying long firearms inside a classroom in Longos Elementary School in Pangasinan on Monday, the start of face-to-face classes.

ACT said that the incident could be traumatic to learners and teachers, and is a direct violation of DepEd’s “Schools as Zones of Peace” Orders 44 series of 2005 and 32 series of 2019.

“Ano’ng ginagawa ng mga armadong pulis sa loob ng klasrum? Militarized na nga ang buong pandemic response ng gobyerno, pati ba naman ang pagbubukas ng mga paaralan?” Raymond Baslio, the group”s secretary general, said in a statement.

“It is absurd for DepEd to be citing that Covid19 testing can be traumatic to students, then allow young children now to be subjected to the trauma of being at arms-length with police forces carrying long arms,” Basilio said.

The group demanded the immediate pullout of all armed police forces inside schools and called for the deployment of civilian government workers, such as barangay health workers, if assistance is needed in schools participating in the limited school reopening.

The DepEd said that the police officers seen inside the school were the security of a local official who visited.

The Education department has a policy that “schools, as a general rule, should be free from the presence of armed combatants, whether they be from government forces or armed groups. Armed force protection units from government forces, if needed, shall be situated proximate to the school and not inside the school.”

The DepEd reminded its field officials and school heads to prevent the entry of armed security personnel.