PRESIDENT Duterte last night approved the dry run of face-to-face classes in select schools located in areas with low coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases starting in January 2021, presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced.
Roque said the President was acting on the proposal of the Department of Education (DepEd) which was presented during the Cabinet meeting last night in Malacañang.
The DepEd has asked for the President’s permission “to conduct pilot implementation or dry run of face-to-face classes in select schools within areas with low COVID-risk for the whole month of January 2021.”
Roque said the face-to-face classes in the selected schools “will not be compulsory, but rather voluntary on the part of the learner/parents”.
He said a parent’s permit needs to be submitted for the student to participate in face-to-face classes.
Roque said DepEd shall coordinate with the COVID-19 National Task Force (NTF) for the monitoring of the conduct of the pilot implementation.
“The pilot shall be done under strict health and safety measures, and where there is commitment for shared responsibility among DepEd, local government units and parents,” he added.
The President in the past has said that he will not allow face to face classes unless a vaccine is already available.
