The Philippine Educators Alliance for Community Empowerment (PEACE) Party-list has agreed with the order of the Department of Education that teachers and other school staffers attending in-person classes should be vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to the party list, the DepEd order is not discriminatory, but is rather a necessary measure done in the public’s interest.
President Rodrigo Duterte this week approved the DepEd’s proposal to expand in-person classes, with the education department saying that only vaccinated school staff would participate in them.
“Hindi ito diskriminasyon, kundi pagsiguro sa kapakanan ng mga bata. We have to protect the children, and ensuring that we surround them with vaccinated adults is a key measure in attaining that goal,” PEACE PL president and first nominee Marie Paz T. Abante said.
President Rodrigo Duterte this week approved the DepEd’s proposal to expand in-person classes, with the education department saying that only vaccinated school staff would participate in them. Vaccinated students shall also be preferred.
Abante said that so long as teachers and other school staff are not penalized for remaining unvaccinated, there should be no problem over implementing such a policy.
She added that the DepEd should also intensify efforts to convince teachers to get inoculated against COVID-19.
“Tandaan natin na hindi pa naman tayo balik sa normal. We are still convincing everyone, parents most especially, that there is a way forward, that we can continue school amid COVID-19.
“We are still convincing everyone, parents most especially, that there is a way forward, that we can continue school amid COVID-19.”
“Malaking tulong kung maipapakita natin na ginagawa natin ang lahat para maging ligtas ang mga bata kontra sa COVID-19. Kasama na rito ang pagsiguro na bakunado ang lahat ng lalahok sa klase,” said the long-time educator.
PEACE party list had also earlier called for the installation of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools.
The DepEd proposed that the expansion start not earlier than the first week of February, as some areas like Metro Manila and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon) are under Alert Level 3 until the end of January.
Meanwhile, the expansion of in-person classes will be progressive in areas under Alert Levels 1 and 2, with the DepEd and the Department of Health deciding on its scale and mechanics as well as that of other school-based activities in consultation with the Department of Interior and Local Government and Department of Justice.
