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DepEd to 'proceed' with its plans to expand further the implementation of face-to-face classes
DepEd to 'proceed' with its plans to expand further the implementation of face-to-face classes
The aftermath of typhoon Odette as well as the ongoing public health situation in the country due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic will not stop the Department of Education (DepEd) to push through with the expansion phase of face-to-face classes in basic education.
“We are proceeding with our plans to expand further the face-to-face implementation,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said during the pre-taped “Talk to the People” public briefing of President Duterte which aired on Tuesday, Dec. 28.
“Our pilot effort has been very successful,” Briones said.
Briones explained that in all the schools which participated in the pilot run including public, private, international as well as other types of school, there was no single COVID incident and there were no “serious incident of ill effects on the children.”
“So we believe that we can proceed,” Briones said.
Briones also also thanked Duterte for giving DepEd, the Department of Health (DOH) as well as the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to “continue the assessment of schools which can be eligible for the expansion of face-to-face .”
‘Odette’-stricken schools
During the briefing, Briones also gave updates on the impact of typhoon Odette on the education sector.
The aftermath of “Odette,” Briones said, has affected almost 12.03 million learners nationwide. In hard-hit regions, she reported that more than 3.77 million students were also affected.
Meanwhile, Briones said that typhoon Odette also affected public schools in the hard-hit regions.
Citing initial estimates, Briones said that DepEd needs P3.37 billion to reconstruct 1,086 totally damaged classrooms and to rehabilitate 1,316 partially damaged classrooms.
“We'll probably be looking at the 2022 budget as soon as it's passed and we'll plead for reconsideration as we'll probably use a portion of our budget for rehabilitation,” Briones said.
Despite this, Briones assured that that DepEd’s efforts for the expansion phase of face-to-face classes will continue.
“We survived two world wars, insurrections, revolutions, volcanic eruptions, floods and all that and schools continued to open --- this Odette won't stop us from continuing,” Briones added.