INSTEAD of the usual school clean-up activities, this year's Brigada Eskwela of the Department of Education-Central Visayas (DepEd 7) will be focused on information dissemination within communities near public schools to educate returning and incoming learners of the new normal set-up.
Dr. Salustiano Jimenez, DepEd 7 director, told SunStar Cebu that the Covid-19 crisis has pushed educators in the region to organize a different Brigada Eskwela rather than the usual gathering of stakeholders, parents, and teachers in the school for beautification and repair works.
"Before, we would often ask for paint and other needs to repair classrooms and schools. Now, we are putting up a new list of needs for the school," he said, in Cebuano.
He said they are now encouraging the 19 schools division offices in the region to come up with a "menu of needs" wherein their school's stakeholders can check on what a particular school actually needs for the resumption of classes amid Covid-19.
He said stakeholders can sponsor or donate facemasks which students and teachers can use if ever face-to-face classes will be allowed, handwashing facilities right at the schools' entrance, sanitizers, alcohols, and internet connectivity.
He also said that face-to-face enrolment is still prohibited, especially during the first two weeks of the enrolment phase.
If possible, he said, the school administration may opt to ask for the assistance of their barangay officials to help them distribute by house-to-house the enrolment forms and survey sheets on the students' preferred modes of learning if in case classes will push through, as earlier announced, this August 24, 2020.
"We need to advocate that they have to be aware nga ang kining atong eskwelahan, dili mahimo nga paadtuon nato atong mga bata or teachers without first securing that our school is safe," he added./WBS