The youth-led, non-government organization (NGO) Center for Young Advocacy and Networking (CYAN), and independent action research organization Government Watch (G-Watch) are conducting a nationwide monitoring of pilot face-to-face classes from December 5 to 17.
CYAN and G-Watch, through its MultiplY-Ed (X-Ed) Project, will independently monitor the face-to-face classes in selected regions in the Philippines to determine the readiness and further recommend steps to ensure that the students are safe in adapting to the new normal post-COVID.
CYAN Executive Director Jeza Rodriguez said that it is important to have an independent monitoring body to make sure that the quality of education and safety of the students, teachers and staff will not be compromised.
“It will also serve as a baseline data for policies or protocols that should be improved, added or maintained while the students and the whole education system is still adjusting to the new normal,” she said.
This special monitoring is part of the project’s goal to create a youth-led multi-stakeholder monitoring of the education program of the national government in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic.
The schools to be monitored by the MultiplY-Ed team are located in the provinces of Surigao del Norte, Zambales, Cebu, Aklan, Antique, and Camarines Sur.
Each of the five teams is composed of representatives and local coordinators of CYAN and G-Watch. The five monitoring teams are deployed per region to monitor at least three schools implementing pilot face-to-face classes.
X-Ed’s monitoring checks the compliance of the Department of Education and the public schools in terms of safety protocols, minimum requirements to qualify as pilot schools, safety and learning continuity mechanisms, processes, plans and protocols, budget allocation and supplies, arrangement of spaces and structures, inclusiveness, accessibility and proactive assistance to students, and quality learning and teaching.
Rodriguez also said that it is vital for us to monitor the compliance of these schools to see to it that the quality of education will not be compromised but rather elevated amid the pandemic.
She added that G-Watch sees X-Ed monitoring this pandemic as efforts of “accountability frontliners” or citizen monitors who brave the risks of being on the frontlines to ensure that the government delivers the right services and entitlements to citizens and implement programs effectively.
The monitoring teams follow DepEd’s safety protocols as they collect pertinent data and documents from the schools to create an overall assessment of the pilot face-to-face class implementation. The monitoring results will be shared to DepEd and to the public as soon as the monitoring is completed.
Earlier in May, X-Ed conducted an education forum attended by Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan attended by over 700 participants. X-Ed will be officially launched in the coming months, when the results of the special monitoring will also be shared more broadly to various education stakeholders. (MLGarcia via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)
