DepEd eyes alternative means of disinfecting printed modules
Following the warning from the health department against improper use of UV light to sanitize objects, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday said that it might resort to “natural” or other means of disinfecting printed modules before distributing these to the students.
“There are alternative ways of sanitizing documents,” said Education Secretary Leonor Briones during the “Handang Isip, Handa Bukas” virtual press briefing. In other instances, she noted that objects are exposed to sunlight as a means of disinfecting them. “It’s a natural way of sanitizing,” she added.
DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio also agreed that “exposing the materials to sunlight may also be done” to disinfect printed Self Learning Modules (SLMs) especially if students will share these.
San Antonio noted that a 1:1 ratio (one printed module to one student) may not be possible in all regions and school divisions mainly due to limitations in resources.
Given this, he said that some schools may opt to implement “rotational” usage of printed SLMs to ensure that students who prefer the use of printed modules this school year will not be left behind.
During the first quarter of this school year, San Antonio said that many students prefer 1:1 printed SLMs. “Few division offices said that they want to try rotational use,” he explained. “This is perfectly allowed, this will not affect the extent of learning of the student because they will learn the same thing,” he added.
Briones, who receives boxes of documents on a daily basis, said that while there other ways to disinfect documents, it is more important that the ones who handle this “should really observe all the minimum requirements” of the Department of Health.
“We take all the precautions, there is no instance yet that we can link the infection from the modules because in the first place, we have minimal cases in DepEd because we are very cautious and classes have yet to start,” Briones said.
On the risk of using UV lights, San Antonio stressed the importance for the team doing it “to take precautions and observe proper safety rules.”
He added that even if some schools will resort to rotational use of printed SLMs, “what’s important is that the modules go through proper disinfection before it is given to the next user.”