Solons: No vaccine, no class opening

Calls from members of the House of Representatives to defer the reopen-ing of classes until the availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 are growing louder, as the safety of students in the normal school setting remains the biggest concern for the policymakers.

- ELLSON A. QUISMORIO and CHARISSA M. LUCI-ATIENZA

I agree with my colleagues that classes shouldn't be reopened until a vaccine is available and we've been able to vaccinate our people, Deputy Majority Leader and Camiguin lone district Rep. Xavier Jesus XJ Romualdo said on Sunday.

I know that this may take, perhaps at the very least, two years, but I'm more worried and afraid that we'll see a great many COVID-19 illnesses and deaths if in- 7 person classes open soon, he said.

The Department of Education (DepEd) has set the reopening of classes for school year 2020-2021 on August 24 despite the pandemic. This is to comply with Republic Act (RA) No.7977, which says that the given school year shall start on the first Monday of June but not later than the last day of August.

But Romualdo argued that delaying up to two years’ worth of learning will still be worth it if it will save the lives of Filipino children.

I mean isn't [saving lives] the ultimate objective of everything the government has done in response to the pandemic? And if you think about how packed our public schools and classrooms are, there will surely be widespread transmission there and that transmission will surely reach the homes of students and teachers. What's really frightening is if most of them will be asymptomatic when they're infected, he added.