1,090 Central Visayas, Caraga schools resume face-to-face classes

CEBU, Philippines — Up to 575 schools in Central Visayas and 515 in Caraga have resumed face-to-face classes, according to the Department of Education.

DepEd Central Visayas regional director Salustiano Jimenez said 300 of the schools are in Cebu province.

In Carcar City, Jimenez said face-to-face classes have resumed in almost all schools.

He said the number of schools conducting in-person classes is expected to reach more than 1,000 by next week.

He said 923 schools have applied for a Safety Seal, which certifies that a school has complied with all the requirements set by the Department of Education, Department of Health and Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Central Visayas has more than 4,000 schools, around 1,000 of them private schools.

Jimenez clarified that in-person classes are still limited because learners go to school only on certain days for a few hours.

In Caraga, DepEd regional spokesman Peter Tecson said the 515 schools holding in-person classes provide preschool, kindergarten, elementary and junior to senior secondary education.

In Davao, 362 schools were given the go-signal to conduct face-to-face classes.

There are a total of 2,669 public and private schools in the region.

DepEd regional spokesman Jenelito Atillo said the department is giving the schools the leeway to work on their own pace in applying for face-to-face classes.

”We don’t want to impose on the schools, but we want them to really make sure that they are ready and compliant with the guidelines we’ve set before giving them the permit to hold face-to-face classes,” he said. – /The Freeman, Edith Regalado, Ben Serrano