VIRTUAL or online learning will still be in place even as schools prepare for the resumption of limited face-to-face classes amid the decline in COVID-19 cases in the country, according to the Department of Education.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones said online learning, one of the two modes of delivering education implemented by the agency since the pandemic in 2020, the other being the use of modules, will complement limited in-person classes.
“We are not letting go of online learning. We are trying to avoid the dichotomy between online and other modalities, that one approach is better than the other. Bini-blend natin ang needs ng schools at mga learners, so we strongly object to the idea that learning was lost during the pandemic,” Briones said in a press briefing.
Briones also said the Palarong Pambansa and other sporting events in schools may resume soon after an absence of nearly two years amid the continued decline in COVID cases. But she added no definite date has been set so far.
Briones admitted that online learning was bogged down by many challenges, especially weak internet connection in some areas, but said the DepEd should not be blamed solely.
“Of course, connectivity is also relative to other agencies. This issue is not DepEd’s alone to resolve since it is also national policy because education is really interlinked to society, politics, and policies of the government,” she said, adding the department has not been remiss in its duty to provide resources to schools, especially amid the pandemic.
In the same briefing, DepEd Assistant Secretary Malcolm Garma said 14,396 public and private schools nationwide with 2.6 million students have been nominated by DepEd regional officials to resume limited face-to-face classes.
Garma explained that nominated schools are those that have passed the School Safety Assessment Tool against COVID-19. Of these, Garma said 9,994 are public schools and 212 private schools who are already in the “participating level.”
“Participating level means they are the ones nominated that are now under Alert Levels 1 and 2. It means they can already reopen for face-to-face classes,” he said.
President Duterte approved last January the proposal of the Education Department to expand in-person classes in both public and private schools under Alert Levels 1 and 2 following the pilot testing of the set-up last November.
The DepEd had to temporarily defer the expansion of the set-up after COVID cases surged after the holiday season.
Garma said that although the DepEd is ready for the resumption of limited in-person classes, there are still challenges that need to be addressed.
“The biggest challenge, number one, is we only accommodate 12 to 15 students per classroom under the limited face-to-face classes. So, we need a lot of classrooms. If there are not enough classrooms, school officials have to extend the number of classes that they will hold to accommodate as many learners as possible,” he said.
Another challenge, he said, is compliance with health protocols set by the Department of Health, especially on classrooms having proper ventilation.
“The next challenge is how to connect our school with home-based learning, hindi kasi puwedeng independent ang isa sa isa. As what Secretary Briones said, we are not letting go of online learning,” Garma said.
He said there is also a need to provide additional resources to schools to redesign and renovate their classrooms to be compliant with new health protocols.
The DepEd suspended the Palarong Pambansa and other events that draw large crowds in 2020 as a precaution against the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Marikina City was supposed to host the 2020 Palarong Pambansa.
Aside from sporting events, other DepEd affairs that were put on hold due to the pandemic were talent contests, science fairs and campus journalism events.
Garma said the decision when to hold the Palarong Pambansa would be discussed by the Palaro secretariat.
