The recent statement of Department of Education spokesperson Michael Poa that said that in order to avoid learning disruptions, only the face-to-face component of classes shall be suspended during disasters, with the students expected to continue their education at home, has been slammed as “unrealistic and insensitive” by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT).
During the post-State of the Nation Address forum on July 26, Poa said “Before, if there is a typhoon, classes are immediately suspended… But now, to maximize learning continuity since we are on learning recovery mode, we do not suspend classes. What we suspend right now is in-person classes. But our learners continue with their education at home using what we call alternative delivery modes, whether modules, blended, or online learning.”
In a press statement over the weekend, ACT chairperson Vladimer Quetua said “This is unjust and inhumane. This is also insensitive to the actual situation of our general public during calamities.”
He added that while the ACT understands the need to overcome the learning crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, there are situations wherein students’ and the teachers’ safety and welfare must be given primary importance.
“During calamities, the government, which includes DepEd, should be thinking of ways on how to provide assistance to its constituents. Instead of adding to the burden of teachers and students who are already suffering from recent typhoons, the DepEd must think of ways to assist them,” Quetua said.
The propensity of local and national government to send employees home whenever the weather sours, even without a storm signal being raised by the weather bureau, has recently become common. While it is notable that the DepEd wants to avoid learning disruptions caused by inclement weather or calamities, the ACT also has a point when they say such a policy lacks sensitivity, especially as other government workers are sent home without needing to do blended or online work, so they can ostensibly tend to their homes and families when natural calamities are expected to strike.
This gray area, when employees are sent home but are still required to render service, is something that both the government and private sector has to iron out, during this era when work and study at home has become possible, as normalized by our collective pandemic experience. If the DepEd is taking into consideration the concerns of the ACT and is coming up with a more considerate and sensitive policy, perhaps it would be a good idea of the other government agencies and local government units, along with the private sector, to review the expectations and maybe even the Labor Code, when it comes to such situations in order to clear the confusion and establish better and well thought out policies when it comes to working at home during times of natural calamities.*
