Public schools in the city of San Juan have started fully implementing face-to-face classes on Monday, Aug. 22, with the opening of school year 2022-2023.
San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora led school officials in welcoming students after two years of online classes due to the Covid-19 pandemic at the San Juan Elementary School.
He announced that all 13 public schools in the city have transitioned to full face-to-face classes ahead of the Department of Education's (DepEd) order to implement the teaching method by November.
Zamora said the city is confident it will be able to manage the influx of students from Kinder to Grade 12 after conducting several "Brigada Eskwela" programs to clean up and prepare the schools for the opening. Several larvae-trapping and misting sessions were also conducted in the schools to help prevent the spread of dengue.
San Juan City has logged zero dengue deaths in 2021 and 2022.
The city government also opened satellite Covid-19 vaccination sites in all 13 public schools to ensure that residents are protected against the virus, especially with the detection of several more-transmissible Omicron subvariants in the country.
“San Juan City continues to vaccinate our population against Covid-19 to make sure our constituents are protected against the virus. We are now administering booster shots to qualified populations and will also give primary series to those who recently qualified, like our children,” Zamora said.
“The vaccination of children is not compulsory. However, we want to encourage the parents to have their kids vaccinated against Covid-19 so they are protected against the ill effects of the virus. To make sure the vaccine is accessible, we will set up satellite Covid-19 vaccination sites in all our public schools in the city,” he added.
As of August 18, 2022, San Juan City has fully vaccinated 264.93 percent of its target population and administered the 1st booster shot to 109.55 percent of its target population.
The mayor explained that they have also started to provide public school pupils in San Juan with schools supplies, uniforms, and gadgets to students. Smart TVs and internet connection will also be installed in all classrooms in the city's public schools while common areas in the school will have internet band WiFi as well.
“We want the best education for our kids and by providing these to our students here in San Juan, we hope that we will be able to do so,” Zamora said.
The local chief executive said that these benefits will be fully implemented in November 2022.