THE Department of Education in Davao Region (DepEd-Davao) is ready for the full-blown implementation of face-to-face (F2F) classes starting on November 2, DepEd-Davao spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said on Tuesday, November 1.
Atillo told SunStar Davao in a phone interview that public schools are expected and required to implement F2F classes while private schools were given the leeway to hold off F2F classes until the end of the school year 2022-2023.
However, Atillo assured that a number of private schools in the region preferred F2F learning and will join the full implementation of F2F classes, while some were already administering the said setup since the start of the school year.
Schools that will not join the F2F setup can follow either blended learning of F2F and modular or online learning or full online or modular learning.
“Instead of the original plan to include everybody, public and private, ang nahitabo was limit lang sa (we are limiting it to) public schools,” Atillo said.
The spokesperson added that public schools are ready for the five-day or Monday-to-Friday setup of F2F classes as schools have been preparing for it since the pilot implementation period, the ladderized implementation to include more schools, until the full transition to return to F2F learning.
Amid the presence of Covid-19 still in Davao Region, Atillo said DepEd-Davao and the school communities are tasked to implement strict health and safety protocols for students, teachers, and non-teaching staff within the school campuses.
However, he said it is not guaranteed that they will not catch the disease in their own communities outside the schools.
"Gi ensure na gyod kanunay na ang implementation sa health and safety protocols, always naa sa highest level ug ang pagtuman niya naa sa highest level. Ang dili nato ma-guarantee is ang situation sa communities (We ensure that the implementation of the health and safety protocols are at the highest level. What we can’t guarantee is the situation in their communities),” Atillo said.
He said parents and community leaders should also practice their own health and safety protocols to keep the children and students Covid-free so as to not spread the disease at schools. ICM