MANILA, Philippines — Government on Tuesday said the pilot run for resuming face-to-face classes will begin by January 11 which will take place in areas under modified general community quarantine and will follow staggered schedules and limited class sizes.
In a statement, DepEd reported that its regional directors have already turned in possible sites for the trial to Secretary Leonor Briones, who has until December 28 to decide based on a timeline released by Malacañang Tuesday.
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The Duterte Cabinet approved the agency's proposal for a test run in its meeting on Monday, with presidential spokesperson Harry Roque admitting that the primary consideration was that the distance learning setup marred by difficulties "is far from ideal."
Education officials said only a limited number of public schools would be designated for the move and the in-person classes will not be on a full-week schedule.
"They will be under staggered or intermittent schedule, and with reduced class size to allow proper physical distancing within the classroom," DepEd said.
Apart from being under MGCQ, those selected should also have plans for managing students in classrooms as well as ensuring that health standards are followed even during their travel to and from the schools.
"There must be a commitment for shared responsibility of DepEd, the local government unit, and the parents or guardians," the agency added.
In a Palace briefing Tuesday, Roque said the actual run would be from January 11 until January 23, with the last week of the month for submitting final recommendations for the president's decision on what happens next.
Duterte had disallowed the conduct of physical learning this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and he has said that he will not allow its resumption until a vaccine for the COVID-19 is already available.
The new learning setup, however, has encountered challenges such as stable internet access, errors in materials, as well as difficulty in obtaining gadgets for the online classes.
DepEd has tapped TV, radio and the internet aside from its printed modules in its push for distance learning which had been met by calls from groups to postpone.
There are over 25 million Filipino students enrolled for the school year that began in October, a figure that has seen a significant decrease of two million in enrollees from the 27 million in schools in 2019.
The department had since said that they are leaving it up to schools and its division offices to put up programs for students who opted to skip the year.
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