DAVAO CITY — At least 18 schools in Davao Region will take part in the pilot face-to-face classes for students in "far-flung" schools this school year, Department of Education (DepED)-Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said.

During a virtual press briefing streamed live over Facebook page of Philippine Information Office (PIA)-Davao, Atillo said these schools are among the 120 that the agency’s central office has approved to participate in the resumption of the face-to-face classes after more than year of distance learning amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

He said these schools are located in the two provinces and one city classified as “low-risk.”

Atillo declined to disclose where these areas are, saying he was “not privy.”

He said kindergarten to grade 3 and senior high school students will participate in the pilot test.

He said they have yet to get directives from the national office of DepED for the official start of the pilot test, which will last for only two months.

He said the 18 pre-selected schools will comprise the first batch but added more schools are expected to participate in succeeding batches.

“The pilot will run only for two months for us to determine what will be our ways forward. This is enough time for the department to decide which aspects we need to improve or whether to continue this or not,” he said.

Atillo said these schools don’t include those from Davao City, the epicenter of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Mindanao.

But Mayor Sara Duterte told Davao City Disaster Radio 87.5 last Monday that the city was asked to submit a list of public schools where face-to-face classes will be rolled out.

“The agreement is that the 182 barangays will be ranked according to risk assessment and the last three barangays (180, 181, 182) in terms of risk assessment will be selected for the pilot face to face,” she said.

“Our initial submission will be one school for each barangay,” the city mayor added.

For the selection of to take part in the pilot test, Atillo said the DepED requires that aside from being low-risk, either the local chief executive could write the department a letter of intent or a resolution passed by the local councils expressing their intention to join the program.

“The parents must be willing, by way of issuing written consent, allowing their children to be a part of the pilot face-to-face. No students will be forced to attend the pilot implementation of the face-to-face class if the parents don’t want to, so that will be of their choice,” he said.

Based on the data from the Department of Health (DOH-Davao), the province of Davao Oriental has the lowest active COVID-19 cases in the region at 832 out of 6,916 total cases as of September 21. Davao de Oro reported 930 active cases out of 5,758 total cases, Davao Occidental with 1,082 active out of 2,791 total cases, Davao del Norte with 3,469 active out of 15,547 total cases, Davao del Sur with 4,439 active out of 9,624 total cases, and Davao City with 9,502 active out of 47,131 total cases.