Sara Duterte: Face-to-face classes ‘best option’ for students

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte on Wednesday highlighted the importance of face-to-face classes, calling them the “best option” for students in basic education.

During the 48th Philippine Business Conference and Expo, Duterte mentioned the recently issued DepEd Order (DO) No. 44, which granted private schools the option to continue implementing blended learning modalities—a combination of face-to-face classes and distance learning—for the rest of the school year.

Under DO 44, private schools may continue holding either five-day face-to-face classes, a blended learning modality, or full distance learning starting November 2. 

“DepEd is cognizant of the current situation of private educational institutions due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We allow them to recoup their investments in online learning technologies, the development and institutionalization of best practices in blended learning, and the unfortunate closure of small private schools,” Duterte said.

However, Duterte reminded the parents, the guardians, and the learners “not to miss the abundance of materials... the five-day in-person classes or in-person learning is still the option for basic education.”
 
Public schools will proceed with the full implementation of in-person classes next month, except for those that are expressly provided an exemption by the Regional Director, those whose classes are automatically canceled due to disasters and calamities, and those implementing Alternative Delivery Modes.
 
On Tuesday, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers called on the DepEd to reveal the number of public schools appealing to be exempted from the five-day face-to-face classes starting November 2.
 
They said they received reports that there are schools, particularly in the National Capital Region and other urban areas, that wish to be exempted as “their facilities and human resources simply cannot make it happen.”
 
In response, DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said that they “can’t go on record yet” as to how many public schools appealed to be exempted because the DO 44 was only issued two days ago.  — VBL, GMA News