Uphold safety of education workers as new school year begins: senator

Jaehwa Bernardo, ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to ensure the safety of education workers as public schools resumed classes amid the lingering COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>&quot;Dahil patuloy ang banta ng COVID-19, dapat nating tiyaking protektado sila at mayroon silang matatakbuhan kapag sila ay tinamaan ng sakit,&quot; Gatchalian, chair of the Senate basic education committee, said in a statement.</p><p>(Because of the continued threat of COVID-19, we must make sure that our education workers are protected and they have somewhere to run to when they get the disease.)</p><p>On Monday, over 18.5 million public school students resumed their studies at home as the Philippines entered its second year of distance learning.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/09/13/21/deped-says-sy-2021-2022-a-success-teachers-cite-challenges">DepEd says SY 2021-2022 opening a &#x27;success&#x27; as teachers lament same challenges</a></li></ul><p>But even with the absence of in-person classes, teachers and school workers are still exposed to the risk of getting COVID-19 since they carry out tasks such as the printing and distribution of modules, Gatchalian said.</p><p>The lawmaker asked the DepEd to work with the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) in creating a &quot;special lane&quot; for school workers, which would ensure &quot;speedier provision&quot; of aid from the state insurer.</p><p>Despite having PhilHealth packages, teachers who get COVID-19 still &quot;spend out of their pockets before receiving reimbursements,&quot; Gatchalian said.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/11/20/philhealth-to-cover-hospitalization-of-teachers-with-coronavirus-deped">PhilHealth to cover hospitalization of teachers with coronavirus: DepEd</a></li></ul><p>He also reiterated the need to vaccinate teachers and minors against COVID-19 to ensure their safety in the possible gradual reopening of schools.</p><p>At the school year opening event, Education Undersecretary Alain Pascua said 380,000 of nearly a million DepEd teaching and non-teaching personnel have been vaccinated against COVID-19, based on reports from the agency&#x27;s field units.</p><p>Meanwhile, over 270,000 personnel have used DepEd&#x27;s self-reporting vaccine tracker to indicate whether or not they have received the jab, Pascua said.</p><p>The education department earlier launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign for its personnel.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/13/21/deped-vacc2school-covid19-vaccination-campaign">DepEd launches vaccination campaign for teachers, other personnel</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/28/21/exclusive-covid-19-vaccination-teachers">Group seeks wider exclusive COVID-19 vaccination for teachers, DepEd staff</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1660536" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Teachers and school workers are still exposed to the risk of COVID-19 since they carry out tasks such as the printing and distribution of learning modules, said Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.

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Uphold safety of education workers as new school year begins: senator

Uphold safety of education workers as new school year begins: senator

Jaehwa Bernardo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 13, 2021 03:12 PM PHT

Read More:

education

Sherwin Gatchalian

teachers

education workers

Department of Education

Covid-19

vaccination

Vacc2School

School Year 2021-2022

distance learning

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