PR
Amid problems besetting the online and modular type of learning, the National Task Force on COVID-19 chaired by Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana is set to discuss the proposal to allow minor students in the computer and internet shops as a way of assisting them in their study, the Joint Task Force COVID Shield said on Wednesday.
Police Lt. Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, commander of the JTF COVID Shield, said the existing guideline prohibits minors from entering business establishments that include computer and internet shops as part of the health safety measures amid the threat of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19).
But PLt. Gen. Eleazar said Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (SILG) Eduardo Año said that he will bring up the issue of allowing minor students to go to the computer and internet shops in the next meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Management of the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).
SILG Año is the Vice Chairman of the NTF on COVID-19.
“We feel and understand the concerns of both the students and the parents, especially the poor, in this new kind of learning method. That is why the national government, through the NTF on COVID-19 and the IATF are really finding ways to extend all the necessary assistance to them,” said PLt. Gen. Eleazar.
While some Local Government Units (LGUs) have been providing gadgets and internet connection to their respective students, most of the LGUs, however, do not have enough fund to extend the same assistance to their learners.
PLt. Gen. Eleazar said that Philippine National Police Chief Gen. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan has also tapped the local police commanders to extend all the necessary assistance for online learners in their respective Areas of Responsibility (AORs).
One of them, according to him, is the approval of the recommendation of the JTF COVID Shield for all police commanders to make initiatives for the poor parents and students in accessing internet connection for their online classes, noting that poor students have no means to buy computers and gadgets.
Earlier, the JTF COVID Shield also tasked police commanders to ensure that online and modular learning students would not be distracted by videoke and other noisy activities in their respective communities as PLt. Gen. Eleazar noted that the new method of learning practically turned every barangay has a new learning space.
PLt. Gen. Eleazar said that they will wait for the decision of the IATF regarding the proposal to turn computer and internet shops as learning spaces for minor online and modular learning students.
“Whatever the decision, the JTF COVID Shield and the PNP would make sure that the rules aimed at protecting as many people from coronavirus infection would be strictly implemented,” said PLt. Gen. Eleazar.
