Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 21) – A Philippine-based international school owner highlighted that online classes remain the safest learning mode for students amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thames International School co-founder Joel Santos stressed the need for a COVID-19 vaccine to assure the safe return of face-to-face classes for students in the country.
“Realistically, there is no vaccine by January. So, the lowest risk really is a virtual class. While there’s no vaccine, the risk of our students going back to school is higher,” Santos told CNN Philippines’ Rico Hizon on Tuesday.
Santos emphasized the country’s COVID-19 cases are not on a downtrend and the infections must be lowered to gradually conduct physical classes.
“There should be also indicators that it won’t happen because even if it goes down now, that could just be temporary and we can have a resurgence,” he explained.
The Thames International School co-founder added the holding of limited physical classes may incur additional costs to the private schools because they have to maintain both the virtual classes and face-to-face classes for those who are experiencing Internet connectivity problems.
Santos also pointed out the need to prioritize the students’ well-being as they transition into online classes. In their school, he shared they designed a blended learning system that balances the conduct of virtual classes and self-pace learning according to the students’ studying styles.
“The design of the delivery of online learning plus how we support our students in terms of mental well-being during this pandemic is actually critical,” Santos said.
President Rodrigo Duterte allowed on Tuesday the conduct of limited face-to-face classes in areas with low risk of COVID-19 starting January 2021. The President previously opposed the holding of physical classes until a vaccine for the virus becomes available.
