SCHOOL openings must also be accompanied by a vaccination program and contact tracing measures to ensure that children, teachers and non-teaching personnel are kept safe from Covid-19, according to an economist from the De La Salle University (DLSU).
In a Policy Brief titled, “Education in the Time of Covid: Bridging Inequalities in Access to Opportunities,” DLSU School of Economics Assistant Professor Paulynne J. Castillo said a school-based vaccination program and community transmission monitoring system should be added to the health safety protocols in schools.
Castillo said these programs will help keep schools open—especially those included in the pilot face-to-face learning modality of the Department of Education (DepEd)—for a longer period of time. This will ensure that the education losses associated with closures are prevented in the near- and medium-term.
“Ensuring that schools in these priority regions are able to keep their doors open longer despite the ongoing threat of Covid-19 could also be achieved by assisting them in establishing school-based vaccination programs and school-based community transmission monitoring systems,” Castillo said.
Castillo added that with public schools piloting face-to-face learning, the government should also promote vaccination and address vaccine hesitancy in communities through the students and their families.
She said the DepEd and the Department of Health (DOH) should conduct information campaigns that encourage vaccine trust and confidence as well as institutionalize policies to support those who participate in the vaccination programs.
These policies include allowing school personnel to go on sick leave and excusing students who become absent after receiving their vaccine doses. These kinds of policies were already recommended by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to the US Department of Education.
In terms of monitoring Covid-19 transmissions, Castillo said, the country can adopt the color-coded matrix designed by the CDC to categorize Covid-19 community transmissions based on total new cases per 100,000 persons in the past seven days.
Based on the system, she said schools belonging to communities with low transmission, sports and extracurricular activities will be allowed provided that participants observe at least six feet of physical distance.
In areas where transmission is moderate or high, Castillo said schools can conduct an expanded screening or testing for students at least once a week.
“Reopened schools in the Philippines— with the help of the DepEd, DOH and the relevant local government units—may use a similar system as the basis for expanding learning opportunities while guarding the health and safety of the institutions and the communities to which they belong,” Castillo said.
Castillo said school closures due to Covid-19 led to a significant decline in enrollment, preventing 2.73 million students from studying in the school year 2020-2021.
In order to address the problems created by online distance learning and with the decline in Covid-19 cases, the government decided to allow face to face classes in 120 schools. This is composed of 100 public and 20 private schools as of November 15.