DepEd to select pilot schools for F2F classes on Dec. 28

During the 49th Cabinet meeting on Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the dry run of F2F classes in select schools with low Covid-19 risk for the whole month of January 2021. (File Photo: Barry Pousman/ Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA – The Department of Education (DepEd) will select the schools included in the pilot implementation or dry run of face-to-face classes (F2F) in areas with low risk of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) by Dec. 28, Malacañang said Tuesday.

During the 49th Cabinet meeting on Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the dry run of F2F classes in select schools with low Covid-19 risk for the whole month of January 2021.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte approved the pilot implementation knowing that the current blended and distance learning scheme is “far from ideal” especially in areas with little or no access to computers and the internet.

“Kasi alam natin na talagang itong ginagawa nating blended learning is far from ideal at ang ideal pa rin talaga is face-to-face so we’re trying to see if we can live with the virus at malalaman po natin kung pupuwede nga lalo na dun sa mga areas na wala namang Covid na (Because we know the current blended learning scheme is far from ideal and the most ideal is face-to-face so we’re trying to see if we can live with the virus and we will find out if it can be done especially in areas with no Covid-19),” Roque said in a Palace press briefing.

Roque said the timeline for the dry run of F2F classes is as follows:

—Dec. 14-18, 2020 – Submission by regional directors to the Secretary, through the Undersecretary for Field Operations, of nominated schools for pilot implementation or dry-run.

—Dec. 28, 2020 – Selection by the Secretary of pilot schools from among the nominated schools.

—Jan. 4-8, 2021 – Orientation, mobilization, and readiness confirmation of selected pilot schools.

—Jan. 11-23, 2021 – Implementation of pilot activities, including joint monitoring by DepEd and the Covid-19 National Task Force.

—Jan. 25-29, 2021 – Submission of regional reports on the pilot implementation; evaluation for the final recommendation to the President.

Roque, meanwhile, reminded the public that F2F classes will not be compulsory.

He said submission of a parent’s permit for the student to participate in face-to-face classes will be required.

“Pilot lang po ito, ito’y isang buwan lamang. Wala po’ng pilitan, boluntaryo po ito. Kinakailangan mayroong approval ng mga magulang at bukod po dito, dapat papayag din po ang LGU. Kung ayaw ng LGU, hindi po natin ipipilit itong pilot face-to-face (This is only a pilot test and it will only run for one month. Nobody will be forced, this is voluntary. There should be approval from parents and besides this, the local government unit should also approve. If the LGU rejects it, we won’t force face-to-face classes),” he said.

Currently, learners nationwide study through the different distance learning modalities that the DepEd has set up — modular, online, television, and radio-based instruction learning.