As we roll out the vaccination program for children in Davao City, hopes are high that pretty soon, face to face classes could resume.
It has been nearly two years since children were in classrooms and meeting their teachers and classmates. When the pandemic kicked in in early 2020, schools have been temporarily closed and school children and students alike were introduced to a new mode of learning outside school rooms and into their own bedrooms and living rooms in front of a screen. It has been that way until now except for some select schools in areas considered as low-risk.
In the coming weeks, more children shall have been vaccinated with their first jabs. It is worth asking what the Department of Education is preparing as a road map to return to physical instruction.
In the words of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, she will not get her kids vaccinated unless the DepEd bare its plans when to resume classroom learning.
The Mayor’s statement may have in effect put the debate on the return to physical classes a matter of chicken and egg question.
It looks at this point that while the city government, along with other local governments across the country, has laid out its Covid-19 vaccination road map, the DepEd appears not about ready to come up with its own although it has said many times the return to physical teaching is forthcoming.
The children and their families are looking for not just solutions but more importantly, a concrete plan and roadmap from the Department of Education which could be attuned with the vaccination timeline of the city government.
