Mayor wants learners stay in class, not home study

CEBU CITY – Mayor Michael Rama said students should remain in the classroom instead of sending them back to online classes in their homes following fears by local lawmakers that the rising summer heat would affect the learners.

“Why would you not allow children to be in their schools? You send them back to their homes… don’t you think it is also hot in their homes?” Rama said.

Rama’s remarks came after the Cebu City Council passed a resolution requesting the School’s Division to plot a measure that would go back to blended learning modalities adopted at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The mayor expressed some misgivings about going back to online classes or modular lessons would affect the learner’s performance, saying that reading and comprehension lessons can be best taught in person rather than remotely done online or through modules.

“Children who are unsupervised by teachers would be tempted to play online games or watch videos instead of answering their modules. It might end up with parents doing the assignments,” he said, stressing that teachers should not expose children to the extreme heat of the sun to avoid exhaustion and stroke.

Cebu City Schools Division Superintendent Nimfa Bongo said a guideline has been circulated to the campuses laying down procedures for blended learning should the heat index here would increase to a “danger” level.

“So far no one applied for it. Other schools observed blended modalities such as shifting of classes, with one group reporting in the classrooms and the other group in their homes,” she said in a radio interview.

Bongo said children’s health and safety should be considered in deciding which modality would be observed amid the hot season. (John Rey Saavedra)