The Department of Education (DepEd) assesses around 300 schools that would join the dry run of limited face-to-face classes should President Rodrigo Duterte give the signal.
According to Education Secretary Leonor Briones, the number of schools may change depending on the assessments from the Department of Health and Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases. The “behavior” of COVID-19 and its variants are also a factor.
“Umabot ng 1,900 [schools ang] in-approve ng mga regional director. Pero sabi ng Senate, sobrang malaki. So na-reduce to 600. And then we reduced it further, para maging stringent talaga ang requirements, to 300 schools,” Briones said in a press conference for the DepEd’s 123rd founding anniversary.
(The regional directors approved 1,900 schools. But the Senate said it was too big. So it was reduced to 600. And then we reduced it further so that the requirements will be more stringent, to 300 schools.)
“Sa tingin ko, baka hindi lahat, hindi iyong buong bansa. Kaya sabi naman, ipi-pilot natin [ang face-to-face classes] but not necessarily for all the regions,” she added.
DepEd checking 300 schools for limited face-to-face classes
(I think we might not be able to hold the dry run in the entire country. We said we will have a pilot, but not necessarily for all the regions.)
Briones said DepEd would consider the approval of local government units, parents’ consent, the school’s readiness, and transportation among others.
According to Diosdado San Antonio, DepEd’s undersecretary for curriculum and instruction, home-based learning would continue to be an option for students even post-pandemic.
“We hope that post-COVID-19, when the new, the better, or the best normal is set in the Department of Education, we will recognize that it’s not just face-to-face classes that will be the ways for learners to be able to learn. We will allow learners who opt to do home-based learning at certain days,” San Antonio said in the same press conference.
Meanwhile, Antonio said DepEd would ensure that the modules are free from errors.
“We are now in the midst of analyzing the self-learning modules that would still be reused,” he said.
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