Flexible school days

By Modesto P. Sa-onoy

It took just four minutes for the House of Representatives to decide last Saturday to allow the President to determine the opening of the school year.

Not only will the President choose when school starts but even to decide which part of the country can open. This allows the President the flexibility depending on the circumstances of the place or the country, as in the present state of emergency.

News report said that this decision was adopted “in a virtual online meeting” of the House committee on basic education and culture, chaired by Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo, and the House committee on higher and technical education, chaired by Baguio Rep. Mark Go jointly. The joint resolution has yet to be approved by the Congress as it seeks to amend Section 3 of Republic Act No. 7797 or “An Act to Lengthen the School Calendar from Two Hundred (200) Days to Not More Than Two Hundred Twenty (220) Class Days.”

No matter then when the school opens, it must comply with the minimum requirement of number of school days. A similar bill has also been filed in the Senate so that the chance of this move being approved fast is high.

The resolution said that “in the event of a declaration of a state of emergency or state of calamity, the President, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of Education, may set a different date for the start of the school year in the country or parts thereof.” The present law, RA 7797 mandates that classes should open between the first Monday of June but not later than the last day of August.” This is the reason that the Department of Education has slated the school year 2020-2021 will begin on August 24.

If approved then government shall have solved, though partially, the problem of when school should open.

Bacolod, for instance, is lobbying with other cities to push for the cancellation of the 2020-2021 school year justifying the move as a health precaution even when there are more places in the country where there are no more Covid-19 incidence or never had there been. This proposal is another “one size fits all” solution that does not consider the wide diversities in the country, not just of the children but of the parents and the national economy.

As the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said some governments are deciding under “psychosis”. He did not adopt the all-encompassing lockdown and yet his country had the least problem.

The Department of Education earlier set the opening of school year 2020-2021 on August 24 and enrolment starts today. Malacanang had not stopped the department.

Whether the proposed flexibility is approved or not at least the confusion has been addressed. School will open on August 24 but if things do not turn out right, like the possible “second wave” of the pandemic, the government has a ready alternative.

The proposal to decide now to close the schools until a vaccine is found (some now say in eight or more months) is a decision based on speculation that things will get worse before they get better. That static decision can be counterproductive.

And talking of inflexibility, barbershops and beauty salons are open but not churches. Well that means that a haircut and a manicure are more essential than praying inside the church and receiving the sacraments. And we heard that even if the churches do open and Masses are held, the children and the seniors are not allowed to attend even if there is the anti-social physical distancing.

Be that as it may, the report I got yesterday (Sunday) is that the adoption of distance learning which allows more flexibility in educational methodology, has raised questions on social justice or equality.

On-line education means the availability of computers and internet connection. What happens to the children without these facilities? Even now when schools are using computers as a learning tool as we had with textbooks, there are hundreds of schools without a computer. I had seen in one high school where the students learned to “type” on a cardboard with printed computer keyboard. It looks funny but sad and tragic. But the saddest is that until now they have no computer.

Distance learning thus disadvantages the poor. I wonder what flexibility the DepEd will adopt to prevent socio-economic discrimination.