ACT Teachers party-list Representative France Castro on Thursday opposed the decision of the Department of Education to extend the school year 2020-2021 until July, noting that this would also extend the suffering of teachers, parents, and students.
“Extending the school year without addressing the basic problems of the Duterte administration’s distance learning program would only extend the suffering and hardships of teachers, learners and their parents,” Castro said in a statement.
“If the DepEd genuinely wants to give learners academic ease, it would have provided adequate learning materials and prepared a curriculum that is appropriate for blended distance learning,” she added.
The lawmaker said DepEd should consider the stand of stakeholders regarding the extension of the school year. She added the department should also establish concrete plans for the safe reopening of limited and voluntary face-to-face classes.
Castro has been pushing for gradual conduct of limited and voluntary in-person classes in select areas due to the difficulties experienced by teachers and students on the distance learning modality.
“As long as the DepEd and the Duterte administration fails to make these basic concrete steps in education, there would be no genuine academic ease in education the government will continue to fail to provide our learners their right to safe, quality and accessible education for all,” she said.
Solon opposes extension of school year 2020-2021
DepEd earlier announced that the school year 2020-2021 would be extended until July 1, 2021, to address learning gaps among teachers.
“These learning gaps are attributable to reduced academic opportunities at home and substantial loss of live contact with teachers,” the DepEd said.
From March 1 to 12, the DepEd said schools should conduct intervention and remediation activities based on the “unique needs of the learners as determined through the results of the different forms of assessments administered for the past two quarters.”
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