Classes resume Monday - DepEd

MANILA, Philippines - Classes will resume on Monday in Metro Manila and in other regions devastated by floods brought by tropical storm “Ondoy,” Education Secretary Jesli Lapus announced yesterday.

Lapus said classes would resume in the regions where it had been suspended for a week following the onslaught of Ondoy but this would now entirely depend on the effect of typhoon “Pepeng” which is expected to hit the country today.

“Subject to Pepeng’s effect over the weekend, in general, classes will resume Monday, except in schools which are fully occupied by evacuees, (and) are inaccessible,” Lapus said.

Lapus said the Department of Education would be closely monitoring developments over the weekend and coordinate with the state weather bureau and the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

Lapus urged school heads to exert all efforts to get the school calendar on track by resuming classes amid Ondoy’s devastation in their respective communities.

“We have to move on and we have to continue teaching our students,” he said.

“Double shifting must be employed and covered courts used when necessary to augment contact time,” he added.

Lapus said teachers should do everything to make up for lost time with the one-week suspension of classes in adversely affected areas.

Lapus suggested the holding of make-up classes on Saturdays.

“Modularized instructions for home study may also be utilized to make up for the loss in class hours,” he said.

The DepEd has also deferred the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) Test for Mindanao that was scheduled for tomorrow.

DepEd issued an advisory that the A&E test would be rescheduled at a later date.

The DepEd said most of the examiners would be coming from Luzon, which is expected to be hit by typhoon “Pepeng.”

The DepEd had scheduled the A&E Test in the different Sundays of this October, with the first Sunday in Mindanao.

The A&E Test is given to those who have failed to finish high school and elementary in their younger years.

Passing the test gets a successful examinee a high school diploma signed by the education secretary that could be their passport back to a formal schooling in college or technical-vocational courses.

The A&E Test intends to measure the competencies of those who have not finished formal elementary or secondary education.