Schools ready for resumption of classes on Aug. 22 — DepEd

Schools are ready for the resumption of face-to-face classes on August 22, the Department of Education (DepEd) said Friday.

At a press conference, DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said regional directors of the agency are “very confident” that their facilities are sufficient for learners.

“Nung nag-ManCom po tayo this week, nag-present ang bawat regional director ng mapping na ginawa nila sa mga schools in their areas. So sa ngayon po, they’re very confident na kasya naman po ang ating mga facilities for the learners,” he said.

(During our meeting this week, each regional director presented what they did for the schools in their areas. So as of now, they’re very confident that the facilities are enough for learners.)

Poa said the agency will implement strategies such as blended learning for areas that have insufficient classrooms or chairs.

He said textbooks will be used for in-person classes.

“So doon naman po sa learning material, magsisimula na po tayo ulit sa mga textbooks for the in-person classes and we have been mapping the materials, meron naman po,” he said.

(So for the learning materials, we will again use textbooks for in-person classes and we have been mapping the materials.)

“So ang sinabi po sa regional directors kung mayroong mga schools na kailangan kaagad— kakulangan sa either teaching materials or modules doon sa magpapablended learning, sabihan agad tayo para mareplenish natin,” he added.

(We told regional directors to immediately inform us about schools facing a shortage of teaching materials or modules for blended learning, so we can immediately replenish them.)

According to Poa, DepEd has downloaded P3.7 billion nationwide to ensure that schools have sufficient equipment, especially for the observation of minimum health and safety protocols.

As of August 19, Poa said a total of 23.3 million learners have enrolled, bringing the total number of enrollees to 27 million.

Poa said this is 96% of DepEd’s 28.6 million target.

“Meron pa po tayong ilang araw, hanggang August 22, para sa ating enrollment. So, again, hinihikayat po natin ang ating mga magulang. Paulit-ulit po natin itong sinasabi na i-enroll na ‘yung mga hindi pa nakakapag enroll nilang anak para maihanda natin agad ang ating mga paaralan,” he said.

(We have a few days, until August 22, for our enrollment. So, again, we are encouraging the parents. We have repeatedly asked them to enroll their children so schools can prepare accordingly.)

According to Poa, a total of 24,765 private and public schools nationwide or 46% will implement in-person classes for five days while 29,721 schools nationwide or 51.8% will implement blended learning modality.

“So if you add both that up nasa 90% po ‘yung merong in-person aspect sa pagbabalik natin ng eskwela,” Poa said.

Meanwhile, he said only 1,004 schools nationwide or 1.29% will implement full-distance learning.

During the Senate committee on basic education organizational meeting earlier in the day, Vice President and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Duterte said DepEd is studying the implementation of blended learning as a permanent mode of instruction.—AOL, GMA News