WITH or without face-to-face classes, school year 2021-2022 will definitely push through but may start as late as mid-September, the Department of Education (DepEd) announced yesterday.
Interviewed over the public briefing “Laging Handa,” DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones said her office will submit three choices for President Duterte as to when the next academic year would start — this coming August, the first week of September or the second week.
Under RA No. 11480, Duterte was given the authority to declare the opening of classes based on the recommendation of the DepEd secretary. Previously, RA 7797 required the first of day of school to be set between the first Monday of June and the last day of August.
“DepEd is ready. We will do the same thing we did last year. We will submit three recommendations to the President. Then it is up to him if it will be by August or extended up to the first or second week of September,” Briones said.
The resumption of face-to-face classes on a limited basis has been deferred anew over fears of exposing schoolchildren to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Briones said Duterte and the Cabinet had unanimous supported the proposal to do pilot face-to-face classes in select schools “but that was before the new variants” were detected.
She noted that reports about the UK and Delta variants of the virus indicate faster transmission and cause serious to critical cases of COVID-19.
“The DepEd needs to consult with the IATF and the DOH. We have to assure the President that the schoolchildren will not be at risk,” Briones said.
She reiterated the agency’s stand that education must continue even as adjustments have to be made to address restrictions on mobility imposed by the pandemic.
“We are keeping a close watch on the behavior of these new variants. If they prove serious as feared, we will not go back to face-to-face lessons. We will carry on based on what technology is available,” she added.
