‘No face-to-face classes before August 24’

MANILA, Philippines — No face-to-face classes will be allowed in private elementary and high schools before Aug. 24, according to the Department of Education.

DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones said private schools capable of adopting distance learning modes of education may be allowed to start classes before the scheduled opening of public elementary and high schools.

She said this is in line with the law allowing the opening of classes between the first Monday of June to the last day of August.

However, Briones said schools that plan to open early should secure approval first from DepEd regional offices.

“The condition that has been set by the IATF (Interagency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease) is that any earlier school openings have to be set online. They will have to indicate their readiness to conduct online (classes),” Briones said in a press briefing yesterday.

“They will perhaps tell us what their facilities are, what their methods are. This will still entail the approval of the regional director,” she added.

Some private schools earlier expressed readiness to conduct flexible learning options to limit physical interaction between students and minimize transmission of the coronavirus disease.

Joseph Noel Estrada, managing director of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations, said 60 percent of their members have already manifested readiness to open the school year between June and August using flexible learning options.

He urged DepEd to revisit an existing order, which requires private schools to secure prior permit from the department’s regional offices before they can use flexible learning options.

“This administrative regulatory barrier should be removed or relaxed as the national health emergency necessitates schools to move to flexible learning options, otherwise learning would stop,” he told The STAR last week.

Briones said they are “in essence reworking that particular requirement.”

She reiterated that face-to-face classes would only be allowed starting Aug. 24 after assessment of the local situation.

“We will observe all the guidelines. We will not allow schools to be open without compliance to the minimum standards of the Department of Health, without the classification that would allow them to open,” she added.

Where face-to-face classes would be allowed, DepEd said there should only be a maximum of 15 to 20 students in each class in compliance with social distancing regulations.

Schools would be authorized to decide on specific learning modes depending on what is most appropriate in their context, such as online learning, use of radio and television or physical modules that the students can study at home.

Due to the compressed school year, Briones said distance-learning activities might be conducted on Saturdays.

Educational activities that require mass gathering of students such as sports fests, fairs and competitions are cancelled.

Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said they expect many private tertiary institutions using the old calendar to shift their opening of classes to August.

De Vera earlier proposed a rolling opening of classes to allow those who can do flexible learning to open on August.

He said they are giving the universities the months of May and June to come up with firm plans on how to conduct the upcoming school year.

The CHED chief said they have partnered with the Department of Information and Communications Technology to conduct an assessment on the connectivity in university and college campuses.

He said the data would enable them to identify the strategic assistance that they can provide to higher education institutions.

Meanwhile, online school classes may become necessary but not all schools are prepared to make the shift, said Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-Episcopal Commission on Youth (CBCP-ECY) chairman and Daet, Camarines Norte Bishop Rex Andrew Alarcon.

“Given (the) COVID-19 situation, it may become necessary… If congregating together continues to become a risk, online classes clearly become the safe mode,” Bishop Alarcon said.

“However, many are not prepared financially, technologically, pedagogically. There is much to be done,” he added. - Evelyn Macairan

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