Catholic and other private schools are calling on government to stop giving “mixed signals” about the reopening of classes and make up its mind whether to declare a school holiday this year because of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Marist Brother Manuel de Leon, FMS, outgoing president of Notre Dame College of Kidapawan in Cotabato, Mindanao, said the foremost considerations should be the safety and health of students, teachers and school workers and the financial viability of schools.

“I agree that the health security and safety of the children, school personnel and administrators should be the primary consideration during the time of the pandemic,” De Leon said.

But he pointed out that schools are already struggling to survive because of the long quarantine and government should not make it worse for them.

“Government (must) come up with an official declaration or policy statement regarding opening of classes, rather than come up with different and confusing messages. I am just worried that further delay in the opening of classes will force some private schools to close down due to their inability to pay their personnel,” De Leon told Lifestyle.

Earlier, President Duterte said he would not allow classes to reopen until a vaccine against COVID-19 was discovered.

But Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque later clarified that what the President meant was that until quarantine protocols were lifted, there would be “no face-to-face classes.”

He said if the lockdown weren’t lifted by August, there would be “resort to flexible learning” or online classes and virtual education.

Confusing messages

De Leon noted that government was sending “confusing messages.”

He said that “an official declaration or policy statement regarding opening of classes” would “allow schools and the parents to adjust and make plans according to prevailing situations.”

The Marist educator added: “Private schools have to pay the salaries of their personnel. Based on the data of Cocopea (Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations), 300,000 teachers and staff will be affected when schools are not to open. They, too, need to come up with alternative learning modalities to ensure that the students learn the required competencies in a ‘new normal’ environment. Parents have to be prepared on what to do with their children’s educational development in case schools are to open or not.”

Angelicum School in Iloilo announced May 27 it would stop operations July 31. In a letter to parents, Dominican Fr. Maximo Gatela, school director, advised students either to opt for a home study program or to transfer to another school.

But on May 29, Fr. Napoleon Sipalay Jr., Dominican provincial and head of the Angelicum school board, overruled Gatela and said the school’s operations would continue.

In a statement, Cocopea said the private education sector “is one of the sectors seriously affected” by the lockdown, and that it welcomes “any government support in any form” to students, parents and schools across education programs.

Flexible, not restrictive

De Leon warned of social unrest should the economy sink further as a result of the lockdown.

“More than two months of community quarantine should have been enough to flatten the curve,” he said. “If we have not, extending it for another undetermined period of lockdown will not guarantee the stop of the spread of the virus. Instead, this will plunge the whole country into serious social restiveness. Let common sense and social responsibility be the norm.”“Realities vary in different parts of the country,” he added. “Guidelines and directives from government must be cohesive yet flexible, facilitative not restrictive.”

Fr. Alain Manalo of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), said some schools had already decided to close for a year or two, according to a report of The Varsitarian of the University of Santo Tomas.

Manalo urged schools to exert efforts to avoid layoffs.

“Retrenchment and redundancy should be the least option,” said the secretary of the CEAP, which groups 1, 500 Catholic schools nationwide. “What many schools do to survive is to really rely on their savings, if they have. Ang ibang mga schools diyan isang kahig, isang tuka. They rely just on the tuition.”

In the same paper, a group of private school teachers urged government for financial assistance in case of layoffs, since private schools were taking a big hit due to the pandemic.

Rene Tadle, convenor of Council of Teachers and Staff of Colleges and Universities of the Philippines, which groups 13 unions and school employees associations, said it was seeking “any financial assistance government provides to schools–such as wage subsidy (for) employees, provision of government’s scholarship through a voucher system for students . . . conditioned on the commitment of the school to preserve the employment of teachers and nonacademic personnel.”

De Leon suggested that with safety protocols in place, schools and economic activity need not be locked down.

“If these are done, we don’t have to put the whole country into a standstill,” he said.

“Economic activities should be encouraged with enough safety measures learned during the quarantine period,” he explained. “The social amelioration program is not sustainable. People have to be productive.”

De Leon declared: “My final word, WE DON’T BURN THE WHOLE HOUSE IN ORDER TO KILL THE MICE.” INQ