AT LEAST 15,400 public grade school teachers in Central Visayas remain unvaccinated against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

This was disclosed by Department of Education Central Visayas (DepEd 7) Director Salustiano Jimenez to SunStar Cebu on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022.

Jimenez said about 61,600 or 80 percent of around 77,000 public school teachers in the region were already vaccinated against Covid-19, leaving 15,400 teachers unvaccinated.

He said Cebu Province has the highest vaccination rate among the 19 school divisions in the region.

The regional director, however, stressed that the region has about 82,000 personnel in both teaching and non-teaching departments.

But Jimenez is yet to give the number of vaccinated students in the region.

DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones earlier urged the teachers, school workers and eligible students to get vaccinated against Covid-19, which she cited as key to the expansion of in-person or face-to-face classes in the country.

In Central Visayas, there are eight public schools and two private schools that joined the pilot implementation of the limited face-to-face classes that started in November 2021.

DepEd 7 also endorsed 440 schools (430 public schools and 10 private schools) for the expansion of limited face-to-face classes that could possibly be implemented in March.

While waiting for the approval, Jimenez said the DepEd 7 has been revalidating the said schools, adding that there may be changes to the decision of the concerned stakeholders—the parents associations and local government units.

The regional director earlier issued a memorandum on Jan. 20 suspending all forms of classes—limited face-to-face and modular blended learning—in areas under Alert Level 3 status within the region for eight days starting Jan. 24 to Jan. 31 due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases.

While the Alert Level 3 status in the entire region has been extended until Feb. 15, Jimenez has yet to issue a new order extending the suspension of classes. (MKG)