"THE City of San Fernando has prepared so well and is ready to resume classes in August."
Thus, said Mayor Edwin Santiago during the consultative forum initiated by the Department of Education (DepEd) for all city mayors of the Philippines on July 11, 2020.
Santiago said although classes will resume, there will be no physical contact. Instead, the city will be adopting the distance learning modalities.
"Due to the Covid-19 [Coronavirus disease 2019] threats, we still discourage physical classes. Our education's goal now is to sustain delivery of quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education services via flexible learning options," he said.
Dr. Imelda Macaspac, officer-in-charge of the Schools Division, affirmed this, as she introduced modular instruction and television-based instruction as the two learning modalities to be implemented to deliver the curriculum.
Modular learning is a form of individualized instruction that allows students to use a self-contained package of learning activities. For San Fernando, Self-Instructional Packets (SIPacks) are now ready to be distributed for free to all learners.
For its television-based instruction, the Department of Education San Fernando entered into a memorandum of agreement with CLTV36, a media entity, for a project known as Fer Nan Dino Kids TV, a tele-Eskwela: Distant Learning program (DLP). It aims to provide all learners in Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2 with accessible supplementary learning and to aid in maximizing learning outcomes.
"As far as City of San Fernando is concerned, 100 percent ready na tayo kasi mayroon na tayong mga printed modules for first grading at tsaka nag pe-prepare na tayo ng video lessons for TV-based instruction na Fer Nan Dino Kids TV na na-pilot test na natin noong July 06," the officer said.
The department is also set to schedule parents' orientation in August to give them information on the adoption of modular instruction for Kindergarten to Senior High School learners.
In light of this, Education Undersecretary Anne Sevilla commended Santiago and Macaspac for the preparations and commitment to ensure educational continuity despite the Covid-19 crisis setting a good example for other cities and municipalities.
On April 24, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendation of the IATF to move the opening of classes for school year 2020-2021 to September, but DepEd maintained that it was eyeing August for class opening. (PR)