Quality education
WITH its decision to fully implement in-person classes in all public schools across the country, starting school year (SY) 2022-23, the government has bowed to public outcry.
The new school year is tenatively set to open on August 22, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).
It will be recalled that last May 30, then Education Secretary Leonor (Liling) Briones announced the full implementation of face-to-face (F2F) classes in all state-owned schools.
But Briones was quick to say that the setup would require the approval of the powerful “Inter-Agency Task Force For the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.”
Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan urged DepEd to resume F2F classes “lest the country’s future labor force end up lagging behind those of its neighbors.”
“When they join the labor market five to 10 years from now, they will not be as competitive as our neighbors, who have already…provided better access to (education),” he said.
We share the view of Balisacan that there is no reason why we should not open up our schools. “The pandemic has exacerbated the inequality of opportunities in education,” he added.
Like other well-meaning Filipinos, we believe that with Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio at the helm of DepEd, the government will succeed in improving the quality of our graduates.
As a lawyer, the Vice President from impoverished Mindanao is in a position to come up with far-reaching measures aimed at maintaining our standing as a major manpower exporter.
Let’s then return to in-person classes not only in public schools but also in private educational institutions.
