DepEd wants limited face-to-face classes in areas with low COVID-19 cases

July 21, 2020

The Department of Education is eyeing limited face-to-face classes in areas where there are low cases of coronavirus disease.

In a taped televised meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte aired on Tuesday morning, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said she received requests from some local government units as well as international schools to allow the limited face-to-face classes.

"So the local government officials have been writing us and international schools also have been writing us and requesting if we can allow limited face-to-face for those who will be able to take the necessary precautions," she said.

The official cited some advantages for holding limited face-to-face learning.

"Well, both the learners or students and our teachers are familiar with face-to-face learning so they will not have difficulty adjusting. Administrative cost will also be lower and also the limited face-to-face classes closes inequality gaps because if we rely, for example, heavily on online learning, then you will have equity problems for those who may not have access to digital equipment," she explained.

"And also this is the most important, the --- when we teach our children, we teach them not only about facts, about knowledge, about philosophies, about history, but we teach them how to deal with their fellow human beings and that can only be attained to a great degree by face-to-face interaction among children especially as they are young," Briones added.

But the official also acknowledged some of the disadvantages of holding limited face-to-face classes, such as the health risks and the administrative costs "because maintaining the health standards and so on and also of our own buildings will also be costly for us."

Aside from holding the limited face-to-face classes in low-risk areas or those at least under modified general community quarantine, she said they will first conduct an assessment of the schools.

"The next is, we were thinking that up to January 2021, during the third quarter, we can start allowing between August and at present, we will be assessing the schools," she said.

National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. has advised DepEd to make physical inspections of the facilities of the schools, she said.

She noted, however, that some schools, such as De La Salle and in Siquijor, have been conducting limited face-to-face classes since June.

During the televised meeting, there was no mention if Duterte approved DepEd's proposal for the limited face-to-face learning. Celerina Monte/DMS