Garcia: Cebu needs to transition to face-to-face classes

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia. Capitol PIO | Tonee Despojo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu Provincial Governor Gwendolyn Garcia supports the gradual return of face-to-face classes in Cebu province and is in consonance with the request of the  League of Municipalities in Cebu (LMP-Cebu) to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the return of such.

Garcia said in a press conference on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, that the modular learning and online classes seems to be not working, especially for students in Cebu Province.

“The province is not internet ready. Right now, we only have 20 percent. We conducted a survey and the results is at best, we only have 20 percent (who are connected to the internet),” said the governor.

For one, the online classes is not applicable to majority of the students, prompting the DepEd to focus more on distributing modules.

Yet the modules are incurring large expenses for DepEd at P280 per module and with four modules per student. Many have also reported mistakes in the modules, causing parents to question the quality of education their children are getting.

Personally, the governor believes that children will learn better with some degree of face-to-face encounters or traditional teaching style.

“Slowly, little by little, hinay-hinay. That should be the goal. We should go back to face-face (learning),” said Garcia.

The governor is also looking into maximizing this slow transition back to face-to-face learning by improving the books and worksheets of the students in school.

She said the provincial school board is already working on the textbooks that should be in English to improve the language proficiency of students in Cebu, and these will soon undergo thorough editing.

Although this is still in the planning stage, Garcia assured that the provincial government will dedicate funds for it.

For now, the governor is hoping that DepEd will consider the return of the face-to-face classes so that the children’s education will be improved.

“I hope the DepEd will hear the clamor for the return of face-to-face classes,” said Garcia.

Read: DepEd-7 in favor of face-to-face classes but…

Free notebooks

Garcia said that a budget has been allocated for the students as well, and Garcia said these will be used for the notebooks and school supplies of the students.

The free notebooks and school supplies will be distributed to over 600,000 students in Cebu province from Kindergarten to Senior High.

Furthermore, the province will also provide ultraviolet lamps for the schools to help prevent the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The procurement is still in the bidding process.

/bmjo