BACOLOD CITY - The Department of Education (DepEd) – Negros Occidental has supported the decision of the Negros Occidental High School (NOHS) principal here to deny the entry of unvaccinated personnel, including teachers into schools.

This stemmed from the recent complaint aired to the media by 13 teachers and personnel of NOHS here, who were reportedly barred to enter the school’s premises on March 1 for their failure to present a negative reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) as a requirement for unvaccinated teachers and personnel.

In a statement, DepEd-Negros Occidental, said it firmly believes that the decision of Ms. Josette Terora, Principal IV of NOHS, to ban the entry of the 13 unvaccinated personnel was solely based on the DepEd policy, and not on any willful desire to discriminate them given that vaccination is not mandatory.

As the school's administrator, Terora is duty-bound to comply with all issuances of DepEd to ensure the health and safety of all personnel and that of the learners when face-to-face classes resume, the statement added.

However, considering that there are still no guidelines on “how to handle the attendance records of personnel who cannot be accommodated in the school premises, despite being required to report onsite, due to failure to present proof of vaccination or valid negative RT-PCR/antigen test result” and that the Civil Service policy on Alternative Work Arrangement (AWA) is still in place, the DepEd said that all schools in the Division will still adhere to AWA regardless of the alert level status until such time that DepEd, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) or Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) guidelines specific to attendance will be implemented.

DepEd-Negros Occidental appealed to its personnel to submit themselves to vaccination for their own protection and also as part of the preparation for the eventual return to face-to-face classes.