The Department of Education (DepEd) eyes to open the school year 2021-2022 under enhanced blended learning in either August or September.
DepEd issued the statement after President Rodrigo Duterte disapproved of the proposed limited face-to-face classes in areas with a low risk of COVID-19 transmission.
“We will release the final school calendar for School Year 2021-2022 once we get the final approval of the President. We are proposing that he choose among either August 23, 2021, September 6, 2021, or September 13, 2021,” the DepEd said.
An enhanced blended learning scheme is a combination of online classes and printed modules.
“We are hopeful that our partners and stakeholders will come together once again in this endeavor and work with us to serve the interest of our Filipino learners,” it added.
DepEd also assured that its utmost priority is the safety of 27 million learners and more than 840,000 teachers.
“We will defer to the professional assessment of the Department of Health (DOH), the IATF, and the wisdom of the President in ensuring their protection,” it added.
DepEd targets school opening in August or September
“While we remain optimistic to open schools when our situation improves, we are ready to fulfill our constitutional mandate in supporting our learners and teachers in any form of learning available,” the DepEd added.
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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