DepEd okays limited face-to-face classes, but none yet in Region 6

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

There is no word yet if basic education schools in Western Visayas are included in limited face-to-face classes for School Year (SY) 2021-2022 amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Hernani Escullar Jr., Public Information Officer (PIO) of the Department of Education-Region 6 (DepEd-6), told Daily Guardian that they were still waiting for communication from the DepEd central office in Pasig City on the matter.

Leonil Salvilla, PIO of DepEd-Division of Iloilo, also relayed the same information.

Earlier this month, Salvilla told Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo that 5 schools in Iloilo province were ready for limited face-to-face classes – Tomas Confesor Elementary School (Cabatuan), Granada National High School-Ballesteros Campus (Carles), Palanguia National High School (Pototan), Adgao-Tagpu-an-Ingay Integrated School (Tubungan), and Cabacanan Elementary School (Alimodian).

But DepEd-Division of Iloilo City Schools Division Superintendent Ma. Luz De Los Reyes told Daily Guardian that no city schools will be included in the in-person education scheme.

De Los Reyes said that there would be no face-to-face classes in public or private schools in the city as Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas nixed the idea.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. announced on Monday that President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes in areas which are considered Low Risk to COVID-19.

Under this scheme, 100 public schools and 20 private schools will participate based on standards set by the DepEd and the Department of Health (DOH) through a Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) which is expected to be released soon.

The JMC was already approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) last July 15, 2021.

The public schools must be in areas categorized by the DOH as Minimal Risk and must have passed the DepEd’s readiness assessment. Private schools will be jointly validated by the DepEd and the DOH.

Parents’ consent and a resolution or letter of support passed by the local government unit (LGU) where the school is located shall also be required.

The pilot implementation will run for 2 months. It is a combination of blended and face-to-face learning activities which will alternate each week and will be closely monitored by the DepEd and the DOH.

The classes will cover 12 Kindergarten learners, 16 each for Grades 1 to 3, and 20 technical-vocational students in 5 Senior High Schools.

The operational guidelines were prepared by the DepEd and the DOH with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and other organizations specializing in children’s health.

The guidelines contain provisions on health and safety standards in terms of personal protective equipment, sanitation, detection and referral, ventilation, contact tracing, quarantine, coordination, and contingency measures, and also lists steps to prepare school personnel, learners, and the community before the school reopening.

The DepEd hopes that the pilot implementation will give the national government a ground experience on:

• The operationalization and effectiveness of the protocols and contingency measures should there be cases of exposure or infection;
• The identification of difficulties and gaps for operational refinements; and
• The assessment of the benefits of the blending of face-to-face classes with distance learning in terms of learning delivery and outcomes.

This will be the first time that learners will be able to interact physically with teachers since March 2020, when the Department of Education suspended classes at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.