THE Department of Education (DepEd) in Central Visayas has left the discretion to suspend classes in all levels to the 19 school division offices and concerned local government units (LGUs).
This was what DepEd-Central Visayas Director Salustiano Jimenez told SunStar Cebu following the memorandum issued by their central office, giving the public and private schools the discretion to suspend classes and other teaching-related activities within January 2022 amid the increasing number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the country.
Except for Siquijor, all LGUs in the region are now placed under Alert Level 3 status until January 31, 2022.
Citing the implementation of the situation-location-based approach, Jimenez said he could not just give the directive to suspend classes across Central Visayas.
"Personally, as the regional director, I cannot give the issuance across Central Visayas kay lahi-lahi man gud og sitwasyon ang mga lugar (every area has a different situation)," said Jimenez.
"Ang akong giingon sa mga superintendents nga they can decide. They can suspend but they have to coordinate gyud sa LGU kay ang LGU man maoy maka suspend og classes. So they can coordinate with the LGU and then declare suspension of classes," he added.
(I have instructed our superintendents to decide. They can suspend their classes but they have to coordinate with their LGUs as it is within their power to suspend classes)
Jimenez assured that the regional office will approve the suspension of classes once the concerned school division, in coordination with the LGUs, will submit their recommendation.
Jimenez, however, emphasized that even before the memorandum, he already left the discretion to the school divisions after the onslaught of Typhoon Odette that left around P6 million worth of damages to learning materials and classrooms, as of January 15.
Despite that, Jimenez said classes resumed on January 4 in all eight public schools in Cebu, as well as the two private schools that joined the pilot implementation of limited face-to-face classes.
Though there are some schools that already suspended the implementation of modular distance learning, Jimenez said other schools have pushed through with the help of less affected divisions. (MKG)