By Pearl Gumapos
The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday (Oct. 25) said that 90 schools will be pushing through with the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes.
Initially, a total of 368 schools were selected from a list endorsed by the regions, which was evaluated by the Department of Health Epidemiology Bureau (DOH-EB).
And, in line with the granular risk assessment of schools conducted by the DOH-EB, 329 schools passed the assessment as minimal or low-risk. Out of the 329, 90 will be proceeding with face-to-face classes.
DepEd Sec. Leonor Briones during the Malacañang public briefing said the agency hopes to reach 100 before the start of the pilot implementation of face-to-face classes for public schools on Nov. 15, and Nov. 22 for private schools.
So far, 93.2% of all personnel in the 90 schools are already vaccinated, Briones said.
As for the consent of the parents, if they wish to back out from allowing their child to attend the face-to-face classes, they can do so without any restraint from DepEd.
“Walang pilitan. Kung ayaw ng parents, kung mag-back out ang parents ay karapatan nila iyan dahil anak nila,” Briones said.
“Ang aming obligasyon ay to explain as far as possible na all possible precautions that are necessary have been undertaken,” she added.
According to Briones, the pilot face-to-face classes will not be like the usual in-person setup.
“[The pilot face-to-face] will only be on specified hours in specified places at saka kung mayroong mga developments na hindi natin inaasahan ay talagang ititigil agad iyan,” she said. -rir
