THE Department of Education in Davao Region (DepEd-Davao) assures that there is no alarming spread of Covid-19 within school campuses since the start of the academic year 2022-2023.
“Duna ta’y mga kaso (We have a few cases) but very minimal. When we traced it, we confirmed that it does not (spread) in the (school) and classrooms,” Jenielito Atillo said during a radio interview on Tuesday, October 4.
He added that the students contracted the coronavirus in their separate communities rather than in school.
In order to prevent Covid-19 from reaching the campuses, Atillo said DepEd-Davao strictly monitors students with positive cases in their homes until they are fully recovered.
Amid the low vaccination turnout among school-age kids, Atillo said DepEd-Davao supports the campaign of the local government units but emphasized that vaccination remains optional.
The anti-Covid-19 vaccination for school-age kids remains optional but Atillo said DepEd-Davao supports the campaign on the vaccination.
“Ang DepEd always willing naman muhatag og suporta para sa atong mga kampanya (DepEd is always willing to support the vaccination campaign). (Requiring the vaccination) is a major constitutional issue kay wala man gyud tay pinugsanay (we really cannot force them). Mao ni ang pinakabug-at na rason ngano dili nato mapwersa ang mga ginikinan na magpa-vaccine ilang anak (This is one of the major reasons why we are having a hard time convincing parents to vaccinate their children),” he said.
Last week, Davao City Covid-19 Task Force spokesperson Dr. Michelle Schlosser said only 18 percent of the 188,000 target population of five to 11-year-old children have been vaccinated.
In line with this, Atillo said DepEd-Davao will strictly implement health and safety protocols especially since full-blown F2F classes will start next month on November 2. ICM