THE Department of Education Davao Region (DepEd-Davao) said several schools have applied for a change of class modalities due to weather conditions.
“Daghan na gi-approbahan nga nag (we already approved several schools to) shift their learning modality into other kinds of modalities except for face-to-face gumikan sa (due to) weather condition, kung init gyud kaayo (if there’s extreme heat),” DepEd-Davao spokesperson Jenielito ‘Dodong’ Atillo said during a phone interview with SunStar Davao on May 22, 2023.
However, Atillo clarified that although classes will be conducted online or modular, there will still be days that they will require their students to come to school.
“Dili ni siya parehas sa tanan na kinahanglan modular gyud tanan, depende na sa sitwasyon. Naay mga adlaw na mag face-to-face sila, naa puy mga adlaw na mag modular o mag-online sila (This is not the same as before where all were conducting modular classes, it will depend on the situation. There will be days that they will conduct face-to-face classes, and there will also be days where they will have modular or online),” Atillo said.
Atillo said school principals will be the ones to decide how to make this arrangement, but they have to seek approval from the school's division superintendent beforehand.
“Meaning musulat siya, pero didto sa sulat niya iyahang i-determine kung unsang klaseng scheme ang iyang pagkahimoon kay it does not necessarily or automatically shift dayon to modular or online (They need to write a letter to their respective schools division superintendent and they need to indicate what will be their learning modality),” he said.
“Depende na sa assessment sa principal kung basig pwede pa diay gihapon (it will depend on the assessment of the principal because they might still be able to have a) face-to-face on certain dates, and then the other days on certain days, and the other days will be modular,” he added.
He said that once the schools division superintendent receives the letter, they will send a team or representative to assess the situation.
“Then by all means kung okay, then approbahan na na siya kay ang focus nato dinha kay ang protection man sa mga bata ug sa atoang mga teachers. Basta naay request, most likely ma approbahan gyud pero tan-awon sa gyud na siya (Once the assessment is done and proven that there’s really a need to implement the requested learning modality then it will be approved. In the first place we are after the protection of our students' welfare and teachers),” he added.
The shift to blended learning has been raised anew due to extremely hot weather in the region that affected the learning capacity of the students inside their classrooms. Based on Sunstar Davao’s interview recently, some students of Davao City National High School complained about not being able to focus on their studies due to hot weather.
They prefer to study at home because it has a comfortable learning environment compared to learning conditions inside their classroom where there are at least 56 students with only four electric fans to accommodate them all. KSD