More public schools may also be allowed to implement blended learning this school year as the Department of Education (DepED) mulls over expanding the exceptions for those that will be required to hold five days of in-person classes starting Nov. 2.
Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, during the 48th Philippine Business Conference and Expo on Wednesday, Oct. 19, said that the agency already issued an amendatory order citing the exceptions for schools that may be allowed to implement blended learning this school year.
On Oct. 17, Duterte signed DepED Order No. 44 series of 2022 which amended DepED Order No. 34, series of 2022 or the “School Calendar and Activities For School Year 2022-2023.”
The newly-released order allowed private schools to continue with the implementation of blended learning. It also reiterated that five days of in-person classes will be mandatory for all public schools except for those that were granted an exemption.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/17/5-days-of-in-person-classes-mandatory-for-all-public-schools-starting-nov-2-deped/
“We will release an additional internal memorandum within the DepED to guide our schools when they can implement blended learning outside of the options of blended learning during automatic cancellation of classes,” Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino in response to the call of a teachers’ group to make blended learning an option in public schools as well.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/19/teachers-to-deped-blended-learning-should-be-an-option-in-public-schools-too/
In the DO No. 44 s. of 2022, DepED said that “no public school shall be allowed to implement purely distance learning or blended learning” after Nov. 2,
However, schools that were expressly provided an exemption by the Regional Director; those whose classes are automatically canceled due to disaster and calamities, and those implementing Alternative Delivery Modes as provided in the DO No. 21 series of 2019 or the Policy Guidelines on the K to 12 Basic Education Program and DO 001 series of 2022 titled Revised Policy Guidelines on Homeschooling Program are exempted from the mandatory implementation of five days in-person classes.
A separate department memorandum will also be “issued relative to the exemption” that will be provided by the regional director, DepED said.
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