As of March 21, 2022, 362 public and private schools have resumed in-person classes, adding to the 69 schools that resumed on March 14, according to DepEd spokesperson Jenelito Atillo during a radio interview on Monday, March 21.
“Every week, increasing. We hope in a matter of time, ma-kompleto na nato ang mga tulunghaan diri sa (we will open all the schools in) Davao Region,” Atillo said.
According to DepEd, there are 2,669 schools in the region, both private and public institutions.
Atillo said DepEd encourages the schools to apply for F2F learning on their own willingness and pace to ensure their capacity to conduct F2F.
“Ang gusto man gud nato ang mga eskwelehan mao ang mag desisyon kauban ang mga ginikanan kay sila man ang maka-certain sa ilang preparasyon (We want the schools along with the parents to decide if they want to apply for F2F learning because they know if they are certain or prepared for it),” Atillo said.
“We are still at 362 so dako-dako pa ning daganunon nato (We are still at 362 schools so there are still a lot to do) but what is very good with this effort is increasing kaayo siya kada semana (it’s really increasing every week),” she added.
Atillo said schools have to comply with DepEd’s School Safety and Assessment Tool and if the standards are not met, the schools will not be approved to conduct F2F learning.
Meanwhile, Atillo confirmed that DepEd, with the directive of Secretary Leonor Briones, has not yet issued an official policy to conduct F2F graduation, recognition, and moving-up exercises.
“Basin posible siya but we do not operate based on verbal information only, kay walay klaro asa gikan ang information within the department. So kana siya will be addressed by a DepEd order so standby lang tanan kakaubanan labi na sa mga eskwelahan, both public and private. In the days to come, surely naay ipagawas na regulation (Maybe it’s possible but we do not operate on verbal information only because it’s not clear where the information came from. This matter will be addressed through a DepEd order so we advise our schools and personnel, from both public and private schools, to standby. In the days to come, surely they will release a regulation),” Atillo said.
With the threat of another Covid-19 surge of cases brought by the BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron variant, Atillo said that F2F learning will automatically be suspended once a city or area is placed under Alert Level 3 or higher, thus online and other alternative learning modalities will resume.
