Amid her order for all schools to transition to face-to-face classes in November, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said on Wednesday, July 20, that the Department of Education (DepEd) will soon come up with a plan that will consider a blended mode of instruction but only for specific areas and circumstances.
This came after she received a go-signal from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. during their recent Cabinet meeting.
In a statement, the Vice President and concurrent DepEd chief and disclosed she sought Marcos’ guidance on how the Department of Education (DepEd) should transition to a full five-day in-person class starting November 2, the date specified by her Department Order No. 34.
Duterte attended Marcos’ third Cabinet meeting on July 19, wherein the agenda for the Education and Social Welfare departments were discussed.
“One of the questions raised by Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte to President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. was the possibility of the institutionalization of a blended learning mode of instruction and should the Department prepare for it,” the statement read.
“The President agreed that a plan should be made with a caveat that face-to-face classes shall be the priority and blended modality shall be considered only in specific schools and areas with special circumstances,” it added.
READ: DepEd chief VP Sara eyes full face-to-face classes by November—Marcos
The agency will prepare a plan for the President to review, but it clarified that there will be “no details” yet coming “anytime soon.”
Duterte stands firm in her order to all schools to shift to face-to-face classes by Nov. 2, 2022.
She stressed that the “requirement of the 5-day in-person classes by Nov. 2, 2022, is still in effect.”
Duterte had remained adamant that in-person classes should begin by Nov. 2 noting that the economy has opened to allow even minors in malls and restaurants.
She earlier said that the country is ready to transition to the traditional mode of learning because of the presence of masks, vaccines, and Covid-19 medicines.
The Philippines remains one of the few countries in the world that have yet to hold full face-to-face classes for students.
The Vice President and Education secretary previously cited a study of how students are “learning less” in a distance learning setup.