This was what Dr. Wilfreda Bongalos, superintendent of the Department of Education’S (DepEd) Lapu-Lapu City Schools Division, told SunStar Cebu after her meeting with the representatives of the city’s 70 private schools on Monday, July 18, 2022.
Just like the city’s public schools, Bongalos said repairs for private school facilities that were damaged during Typhoon Odette (Rai) last Dec. 16, 2021 are still ongoing.
She, however, could not yet give the exact number of private schools that have damaged facilities.
Limited face-to-face classes
But Bongalos said all the 70 private schools will implement the limited face-to-face classes during the formal opening of classes this coming August, adding that some have already started initiating blended learning this month.
The division superintendent earlier revealed that only 14 private schools joined the limited face-to-face classes in March last school year.
Apart from that, Bongalos also revealed that nine of the 79 private schools have shut down their operations in the same school year.
She said the low number of enrollees and their lack of capacity for online classes are the two main reasons why the said schools, a mix of elementary and high school, opted to halt its operations.
As of Thursday morning on July 21, Bongalos said not a single of the nine private schools had signified its intention to return their operation for the School Year 2022-2023.
More enrollees expected
Meanwhile, Bongalos said they expect about 19,000 enrollees in private schools for this school year, a bit higher than the 18,000 enrolled students last school year.
In public schools, they expect about 110,000 enrollees, adding they had around 107,000 enrolled students in the past school year.
Lapu-Lapu City has about 81 public schools, 44 of which are elementary, while 27 and 10 are junior high school and senior high school, respectively.
Last July 12, the DepEd said elementary and secondary schools in both public and private schools will have to resume the conduct of five-day F2F classes by Nov. 2 this year regardless of the alert status of the areas where the schools are located.
It further said no school is allowed to implement purely distance or blended learning except for those that are implementing Alternative Delivery Modes, including homeschooling, modified in-school off-school approach, and night and open high schools that do not strictly follow the regular set-up for regular classroom instruction.
Schools are also ordered to ensure the maintenance of minimum health protocols, such as the wearing of face masks and the observance of physical distancing to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday, July 19, ordered education officials, with the assistance of other concerned agencies, to iron out preparations and plans for the resumption of face-to-face classes in the country this year.
