The Department of Education has officially opened School Year 2020-2021 online to public elementary and high school institutions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Hindi natin sila susukuan. Hindi tayo susuko sa mga pangangailangan ng ating mga mag-aaral. Gawin natin ang lahat para walang maiiwan. No one left behind kumbaga (We will not give up on them. We will not give up on the needs of our learners. We will do everything so that no one will be left behind),” DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones stated.
President Rodrigo Duterte also extended greetings to teachers, parents, and students who expressed willingness to learn.
“The school opening of this year is a momentous occasion because it is pushing through despite (the) global health crisis due to COVID-19. Indeed, nothing can get in the way of the instruction and formation of our learners, not even a pandemic,” President Duterte stated.
After months of preparation, classes will push through under various modalities of distance learning to ensure the safety and education of 24 million enrollees for the year.
However, the DepEd admitted that the distribution of self-learning modules is not yet complete since more than 300 million of the 900 million printed modules have only been handed out to learners.
There are other alternatives in case module-based learning is not feasible, including online, TV, and radio. The DepEd said it will conduct assessment in the coming weeks to address possible issues.
Enrolment is still open until November 21, according to the DepEd. – Report from Kenneth Paciente
