This as officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Cebu City announced that they are eyeing to fully implement face-to-face classes during the opening of the school year in August.
Dr. Liberato Lauronillo, DepEd Cebu City district supervisor, said Tuesday, May 31, that schools, for now, are only holding limited in-person classes that cater only to those vaccinated students.
The number of students per grade level that can attend the physical classes is also limited to 10 and 15 students in lower and higher grade levels, respectively.
“Now, to those children who are not yet vaccinated, we must have them vaccinated so that they will be included in the list for our limited face-to-face, especially that during the opening (of classes) in August, we can lecture 100 percent (of students) and we will not be having problems when it comes to health issues,” Lauronillo said in Cebuano.
Physical graduation
Lauronillo added that another reason students should be vaccinated is for them to be allowed to attend the in-person graduation ceremonies at the end of the school year.
Teachers and school principals were already checking the vaccination status of Grade 6 and 12 students who will be graduating, said Lauronillo.
Lauronillo noted that the vaccination card of the student is one of the requirements along with the consent of the parents and the support of the barangay for the application for graduation.
He said these requirements will be submitted to the office of Cebu City’s School Division superintendent Dr. Rhea Mar Angtud for her approval.
Lauronillo further said schools should select a spacious venue for the graduation rites to avoid overcrowding.
“Sa feedback nato karon, ang mga ginikanan, gusto na pud sila makakita sa ilang anak nga mo paso, pero mo observe gihapon ta (parents also want to see their children march, but we will still observe) sa health protocol,” said Lauronillo.
In a separate interview, Angtud said they are still monitoring the number of students who already got vaccinated.
Angtud said there are still schools that are scheduled to be visited by the Cebu City Health Department for a vaccination drive.
There are a total of 189,515 public school students and 53,913 private school students in the city, said Angtud.