Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Tuesday presented to President Duterte the proposal of the Department of Education (DepEd) on the holding of limited face-to-face classes in low risk areas as long as these are regulated.

In a televised meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, Briones presented the proposal of DepEd on limited face-to-face classes as requested by many local government units (LGUs) as well as private local and international schools.

After the presentation, President Duterte told Briones: “I’m with you on this.”

“For basic education, we are saying that maybe we can allow limited face-to-face but to be strictly regulated in the light of present conditions,” Briones said.

If allowed, physical classes may be allowed in low risk areas as long as these schools are able to strictly comply with the health and safety requirements set by DepEd, the Department of Health (DOH), and the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

Briones said that in spite of the combined impact of COVID-19 and the downturn in the economy, the DepEd was able to achieve a 77 percent enrollment this coming school year compared to last year.

As of July 20, a total of 21.5 million students enrolled in both private and private schools.

In public schools, Briones said that DepEd was able to achieve 90 percent enrollment or 20.3 million compared to last year but the “problem is in private schools” wherein families are greatly affected by the economy.

The latest enrollment in private schools is 1.1 million or 27.7 percent of last school year’s enrollment. There are also 347,860  students who migrated from private to public schools.

Briones noted that “children were not badly affected by COVID-19 unlike the adults.”

Of more than 67,000 COVID-19 cases in the country, she said that “only 2,832 children are affected and these are mild cases.” The DepEd, she added, has “16 recorded deaths of children” to date.

Pros and Cons

In her presentation, Briones shared the advantages and disadvantages of holding limited face-to-face classes.

If face-to-face classes will be allowed, Briones said that there will be “no difficulty in adjusting” for both students and teachers since they are familiar with this kind of learning delivery.

Aside from lower administrative costs, Briones said that limited face-to-face “closes in equality gaps because if we rely heavily on online, there will be equity problems for those who do not have access to technology.”

Face-to-face classes is also important for the overall growth of children. “When we teach our children, we don’t just teach about facts, knowledge, or history. We also teach them how to deal with their fellow human beings and that can only be attained to a certain degree through face to face interaction especially as they are young,” she added.

Briones also took note of the disadvantages, especially the health risks and higher administrative costs especially in maintaining health standards.

Briones said that several conditions must be imposed in the conduct of limited face-to-face classes. “The location of the schools have to be assessed as low risk and our schools have to be ‘friendly’ to the idea of having face-to-face classes during the time of COVID,” she added.

Briones noted that bigger classrooms are needed to ensure physical distancing is observed and that the physical condition of schools must be taken into consideration. “Schools should meet the minimum health standards,” she added. A joint inspection of schools must also be done by concerned agencies before limited face-to-face classes are allowed.

Since most of the requests come from LGUs, Briones said that the host local governments “should be ready to support and help these schools financially.” If face-to-face classes will be allowed, she also underscored the need for greater coordination between DepEd, the LGUs concerned, and local health authorities.