May 17, 2022
THE Department of Education (DepEd) aims to open all public schools in Cebu City for the implementation of the limited face-to-face (F2F) classes before the end of June 2022.
Rhea Mar Angtud, school’s division superintendent of DepEd Cebu City, said Tuesday, May 17, that as of Monday, 13 out of the 126 public schools in the city have already resumed their limited in-person classes.
Angtud said the opening will serve as a diagnostic to check for any possible issues and concerns before the full implementation of the F2F classes.
These 13 schools are Sibugay Integrated School, Pamutan Integrated School, Mangabon Elementary School, Cantipla Integrated School, Tabunan Integrated School, Sinsin National High School, Deosis Elementary School, Lusaran National High School, Tagbao National High School, Taptap Integrated School, Sinsin Elementary School, Adlaon Integrated School, and Bitlang Integrated School.
According to Bernadette Susvilla, the assistant school’s division superintendent, the resumption of the limited F2F classes was successful.
“Nindot ang dagan kay ang mga bata nato excited and they were happy. Lipay kaayo sila nga for the first time for this school year, nakabalik na sila sa atong mga eskwelahan. Ang atong mga teachers kay full force sila nga ni assist,” said Susvilla.
Susvilla added that these 13 schools were selected because they were situated in remote areas, which are far from the dense crowd in the city’s urban places.
These schools also received the Safety Seal coming from the DepEd-Central Visayas that certified their safety to conduct F2F classes.
Susvilla added that one of the criteria in applying for a Safety Seal is there should be no recorded Covid-19 transmission in the barangays where the schools are situated.
Limited F2F classes
For the limited F2F classes, Susvilla said the number of students inside the classroom is lesser compared to its original carrying capacity, as only those vaccinated learners will be allowed to participate in the classes.
At the elementary level, the number of pupils per classroom should not exceed 15 children, while for the junior and senior high school level, the limit is set to 20 students.
Susvilla said the schools have the prerogative to decide the duration or number of days for the implementation of the limited F2F classes.
The schools can also choose whether to conduct the limited F2F classes for a minimum of two weeks, or until the end of the school year, which is on July 7.
Additional schools
Angtud said there will be 37 schools that will also conduct limited F2F classes on May 30 and these will already include the schools in the urban area.
Before the end of June, 100 percent of the schools under DepEd will open their doors to the limited in-person classes, said Angtud.
The division superintendent added that they are now processing the application for the safety seals of these schools.
“Hopefully, ma normalize na ang tanan. Although, dili man gyud ta maka ingon nga pariha sa una, new normal naman kaha ta ron, ang atoa lang gi tan-aw ani is that the teachers will still drool the same vigor and passion sa ilang pag tudlo,” said Angtud.
Angtud added that they are partnering with the Cebu City Health Office in conducting school-based vaccination drives for students and teachers.
In Cebu City, 98 percent of the public school teachers are already fully vaccinated against the virus, said Angtud.
According to Angtud, the remaining two percent cited religion and health conditions as the reasons on why they kept themselves from being vaccinated.
These teachers will be required to submit a negative Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) result every two weeks and they are not allowed to interact with the students during the F2F classes. (IRT)