City urged to hire retrenched workers

July 25, 2020 Metro BLISTT

The City Council, during last Monday’s regular session, requested the Department of Education – Division of city Schools to consider hiring para-teachers giving higher preference to those retrenched or laid off personnel due to the adverse effect of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 from private schools and those unemployed graduates of education in the implementation of the blended learning system.

In a resolution, local legislators stated that with the unwavering commitment of the education department of continuously providing learning opportunities to the students that support systems should likewise be in place.

The council added that part of the same is to make sure that ample human resource is readily available, thus, hiring para-teachers has a 2- pronged purposes such as ensuring enough work force to assist all the learners with their appropriate learning modality and provide adequate employment opportunities by giving higher preference to local talents whose employment from private schools had been disrupted due to the global pandemic and to those graduates of education who are available for service and employment.

Earlier, the education department’s central office has brought the idea of hiring para-teachers to assist and provide administrative support to the agency and will help to facilitate lessons for students outside the classroom, especially for those learners whose parents are not capable of monitoring and guiding their children in the new normal set up this ensuing academic year.

According to the council, the agency’s learning and continuity plan is a mechanism purposely to craft and implement learning delivery alternatives for the upcoming school year 2020-2021 as a proactive response to the present public health situation due to the heavy impact of the COVID global pandemic.

Moreover, the council claimed that the designed mechanisms aims to update and adjust existing basic education policies collaborating with partners and realigning of finances to ensure the delivery of quality education while safeguarding the health and welfare of all the learners.

The local legislative body emphasized that the agency’s blended and distance learning or hybrid learning is a designed alternative for the conventional face to face learning system where it is a fusion of online distance learning and in-person delivery of printed materials to the homes of the learners through the barangays for those who do not have internet access and interactive facilities in the comfort of their homes.

In villages where both are not practical and possible, the agency will eventually use television and radio-based instructions where radios and televisions across the country will be used to broadcast and delivery lessons, learning activities and instructions for learners to be able to pursue their education amidst the wrath of the global pandemic.

The council recognized that one of the most affected sectors shaken due to the global pandemic is the education sector, especially those that are small private learning institutions where several private schools in the city had already stopped operations due to financial burden and expected low turnout of enrollees.

Dexter A. See