Across Central Visayas today: Full in-person classes start

CEBU, Philippines —  All is set for today’s start of full face-to-face classes among public and private elementary and high schools in Central Visayas.

DepEd-7 Director Salustiano Jimenez said that public schools, both in elementary and high school levels, are 99.9 percent ready for the implementation of full in-person classes today, November 2, 2022.

“(We are) 99.9 percent (ready) sa atong public elementary and high schools in Central Visayas kay mag-implement na sa full face-to-face classes,” Jimenez told The FREEMAN yesterday.

He said that only one school out of the 3,775 public elementary and high schools, specifically Dr. Cecilio Putong National High School in Bohol, will not be implementing the full F2F setup yet as the construction works are still ongoing in the school.

Jimenez said those schools who lack classrooms will have to resort to double shifting of classes (morning and afternoon sessions), although the majority will be doing whole day classes.

Of the 892 elementary and private schools in the region, Jimenez said that about 75 percent so far will be implementing the full face to face classes.

“Dili pa gyud ang tanan nila mag-implement sa full face to face for several reasons such as lack of budget for school repairs and less income due to the pandemic,” Jimenez said.

It can be recalled that several schools in Central Visayas were badly hit by Typhoon Odette last December 16, 2021.

Jimenez earlier said that DepEd-7 incurred an estimated P10 billion in damages due to the typhoon.

These damages included 2,234 classrooms that were totally damaged, about 500 classrooms with major damage, and about 5,000 classrooms with minor damage.

“Pasalamat ta kay daghan gyud ang nitabang aside sa government. Nitabang ang atong Parents-Teachers Associations, mga foundation and local government units sa pag-construct og pag-repair sa atong eskwelahan. They also poured in their resources,” Jimenez added.

Jimenez likewise asked the parents and guardians to always remind their children to be mindful of the health protocols to prevent any untoward incidents as classes return to pre-pandemic setting. – JMD (FREEMAN)