To ensure the safety of both teachers and students, the Department of Education (DepEd) said its regional offices (ROs) and school division offices (SDOs) have contextualized the mode of delivery of the Self-Learning Modules (SLMs) to be used this upcoming school year.
In order to distribute the modules without endangering teachers and students in the delivery of SLMs, DepEd Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo said that ROs and SDOs established health and safety protocols ahead of the Oct. 5 school opening.
Escobedo said that concerned ROs and SDOs “conduct of disinfection of learning materials prior packaging and distribution” and forge “stronger partnerships with barangay councils that will help in facilitating the distribution and retrieval of modules to their respective barangays.”
Regional offices, Escobedo explained, also issued memoranda on strengthened management and response to COVID-19 and the implementation of alternative work arrangements in all levels of governance. Aside from the formulation of the Contingency Plan for COVID-19 pandemic, he noted the “inclusion of COVID-19 protocols and other health-related reminders in learners’ package kits.”
Contextualized Learning Delivery Modalities
Escobedo explained that learning modalities per SDO are delivered in different methods - depending on accessibility and COVID-19 Risk Severity Classification of the areas in the divisions.
“In particular, SDOs have options such as blended learning, which combines two or more learning modalities, distance learning and homeschooling, which are more applicable for high risk areas,” Escobedo said.
Aside from these main modalities, he noted that there are some schools that will also be utilizing online modalities.
“Notably, all SDOs in the National Capital Region will be using online platforms for all grade levels,” he added.
As of Aug. 24, Escobedo explained that all regions will be using Printed Modules, TV-Based Instruction, and Radio-Based Instruction. For this SY, he said that there are 18,920 schools that will use Printed Modules; 2,819 schools that will use TV-Based Instruction and 3,352 schools that will use Radio-Based Instruction. This data is based on the submission of eight regions.
When it comes to the status of printing of modules, Escobedo noted that seven regions including Regions I, II, IV-A, IX, X, XIII and the NCR as in the “Advanced” stage wherein SDOs are in “80%-100% stage of SLM printing.”
There are six regions including Regions III, IV-B, V, VII, VIII, and XII that are in the “Progressing” stage where SDOs are in the 50%-79% stage in SLM printing.
Escobedo noted that four regions including Regions VI, XI, XIII and CAR are in the “Catching Up” stage wherein SDOs are in the 25%-49% stage of SLM printing. Meanwhile, he explained that there are four out of the 214 SDOs that are “Lagging Behind” with 0%-24% stage of SLM printing.