The plan to expand limited face-to-face classes to more schools in areas classified as “high risk” has been postponed until next week, the Department of Education (DepEd) said.
In a virtual press briefing on Wednesday, Jan. 5, Education Secretary Leonor Briones confirmed that DepEd received advice from the Department of Health (DOH) to postpone its plans to expand face-to-face classes --- particularly in Metro Manila.
“Kakatanggap lang namin ng advice galing sa Department of Health na kung pwede hintayin natin hanggang matapos iyong assessment period sa January 15 (We just received an advice from the Department of Health for us to wait until the assessment period is done by January 15),” Briones said.
As announced by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IARF), the National Capital Region (NCR) has been placed under Alert Level 3 status from Jan. 3 to 15.
In December, DepEd announced its plans to reopen more schools this year as part of the expansion phase of the limited face-to-face classes.
However, the surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19 cases) and the threat of the highly contagious Omicron variant forced DepEd to postpone its expansion plans.
Despite this, DepEd said that it will continue to monitor the overall public health situation and will wait for the advice of DOH whether or not it will proceed with the expanded in-person classes.
Meanwhile, Briones assured stakeholders that students in pilot schools affected by the changes in risk classifications would continue learning since alternative delivery modalities are in place.
“Blended learning has been there for a very long time, it was always there, and we will still implement this,” Briones said in a mix of English and Filipino.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/01/03/students-in-metro-manila-pilot-schools-to-continue-lessons-under-distance-learning-briones/
Depending on the risk assessment of areas, Briones said that DepEd is ready to implement the expansion phase.
If there will be a delay in the expansion phase, Briones assured that schools are ready to shift back to full blended or purely distance learning.
Since School Year (SY) 2020-2021, a distance learning set-up has been implemented by DepEd.
Meanwhile, DepEd said that pilot face-to-face classes would continue in areas under Alert Level 1 and 2 as long as the local government units (LGUs) and the stakeholders continue to support the initiative.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/01/05/deped-pilot-face-to-face-classes-continue-in-low-risk-areas/