NTF, IATF to tackle internet use of minor learners next meeting

FILE: Senior high school student Gilbert Radam, 17, of the Lyceum of the Philippines University, attends an online class from his home in Dasmariñas City, Cavite on Friday (Oct. 2, 2020). (PNA photo by Gil Calinga)

MANILA – Joint Task Force Covid Shield commander Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar on Wednesday said the National Task Force (NTF) on Covid-19 and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) are scheduled to discuss a proposal to allow minor students in the computer and internet shops as a way of assisting them in their studies.

This after some public school students experienced some difficulties in the conduct of their classes.

Eleazar 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 coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) threat.

He added that Secretary of the Interior and Local Government (SILG) Eduardo Año said 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-EID).
Año is the vice-chairman of the NTF on Covid-19.

While some local government units have been providing gadgets and internet connection to their respective students, most of the LGUs, however, do not have enough funds to extend the same assistance to their learners.

“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,” Año said.