President Rodrigo Duterte said that students must not go to schools if coronavirus vaccine is yet to be available in the Philippines. This is so despite other countries beginning to permit such permissions.
Considering the risky possibility of the second COVID-19 wave, Duterte argued that the risk is too big. Accordingly, Duterte stated that there is no point in opening the schools if the vaccine is not ready.
“Unless I am sure that they are really safe it’s useless to be talking about opening of classes. For me, vaccine first. If the vaccine is already there, then it’s okay. If no one graduates, then so be it,” he explained.
The Philippines is also having a hard time to conduct online schools due to the unavailability of necessary devices in some regions. Due to poverty, some major numbers of students do not have the facilities such as computers and stable internet connection.
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Coronavirus is Not Only the Problems for Schools in the Philippines
Coronavirus pandemic has caused students enrolling at schools all around the globe to be unable to attend the normal study. With the absence of vaccine, education has to rely on online learning, something in which has not happened at this massive scale.
As what is happening in numerous countries, students continue their study via online learning. Some countries such as South Korea, however, begin to resume the normal school life.
The Philippines, which just recently eases its lockdown, is among the countries who are not ready to open schools. This is so considering the crowds in the regular Filipino schools that make physical distancing quite impossible.
To reduce crowding, the Ministry of Education has introduced mixed distance-learning measures which will be in effect starting from the upcoming academic year.
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