Over 6,000 schools ready for face-to-face classes — DepEd

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday said a total of 6,145 public schools are ready for its progressive expansion phase of the limited face-to-face classes as of February 22.

Based on the DepEd data, the regions with the most number of schools ready for in-person classes are Bicol with 921, Zamboanga with 845, and Cordillera with 732.

The regions with the least number of schools prepared for face-to-face classes  are Eastern Visayas with 60 and Western Visayas with 78.

A total of 4,315 schools, including  4,239 public and 76 private schools, have already started the implementation of in-person classes as of Wednesday.

According to the DepEd, there are around 47,000 public schools and 12,000 private schools in the country.

On Tuesday, the National Parent-Teacher Association Philippines (PTA) expressed support for calls to return to the conduct of face-to-face classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

PTA president Willy Rodriguez said they are supporting the initiative of the DepEd on the matter.

“National PTA calling to have face-to-face classes same as supporting DepEd initiative face-to-face classes,” Rodriguez said.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief Karl Kendrick Chua said the nationwide resumption of face-to-face classes would boost the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chua said opening all 60,743 schools for in-person learning would increase economic activity by P12 billion per week. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News