DepEd to implement measures for students amid suspensions

MANILA, Philippines — To assist teachers in assessing the grades of their students amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Department of Education (DepEd) will compute grades based on their performances in the first to the third quarters to determine if they will be passing for the next grade level.

DepEd Undersecretary Alain Pascua said the agency will issue a memorandum soon to direct all schools to implement the “transmutation formula” in determining the class standing of their respective students.

“Here in Manila where classes are suspended, the DepEd has what we call transmutation formula. This is a formula where we compute the grades of a student since the first, second and third quarters and then we will be able to determine their class standing,” he said.

President Duterte has extended the suspension of classes up to April 12 in Metro Manila after the metropolis was placed under community quarantine due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Pascua said if a student feels that he or she needs to improve further on his/her grades, the student maybe allowed to get online tests.

“We can administer online examination. This will be done by DepEd here in Metro Manila on the assumption that between 98 to 99 percent here in the metropolis have cellphone or penetration of WiFi or the internet,” Pascua explained in English and Filipino.

Since the majority have internet access, Pascua said DepEd has laid out contingency measures.

“So we could administer online examination by introducing to our teachers and our learners on what we now call as DepEd commons. We have a DepEd commons where lesson for the remaining quarter, the last two weeks can be accessed by the students and the teachers,” he said.

“They can also review for the fourth quarter and then they can take the examination online, if the students are not satisfied with the transmutation formula that we will be undertaking or the teachers will be undertaking,” Pascua said.

The DepEd said it is finalizing the formula that would determine the class standings or finals of a student without a final examination.

It will be used as basis for graduation or promotion to the next grade level.  – With Janvic Mateo