By Ma. Teresa Montemayor
MANILA – The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday said it would consult the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) and the Department of Health on the possible resumption of face-to-face classes following the detection of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19.
“Ang expertise nila sa pag-aaral nila ng variant na ito na sinasabi nilang very dangerous, makikinig tayo, kasi sabi ni Presidente dapat mabigyan siya ng assurance na ang mga bata ay safe and he’s looking forward to full vaccination of children,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said in a Laging Handa briefing.
Briones was reacting to the call for the safe reopening of schools as “an urgent priority” by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund in a recent meeting of regional leaders.
Despite this challenge on possible resumption of face-to-face classes, Briones assured the public that classes will continue, and no learner will be left behind as far as education is concerned.
Briones also emphasized that Duterte will be the one to decide on the issue of face-to-face classes and “he must be given all the information which would guide him in making a wise decision”.
“Right now, he (Duterte) has a choice, the existing law which is August (as) the latest opening of classes and if he extends, he can extend up to the first two weeks of September,” she said.
However, she added, if the Delta variant is difficult to control, the DepEd would use technology and not face-to-face classes to deliver classes for the upcoming school year.
For the school year 2020 to 2021 which opened in October 2020, the DepEd conducted classes through online learning, modular learning, TV and radio-based instruction and blended learning which is a combination of two or more methods of learning.
“Ang DepEd whether face-to-face, whether online, or radio, or TV, patuloy ang edukasyon ang paraan lamang ang mai-influence nitong bagong COVID variant,” Briones said. (PNA) -rir
