Some 50 public schools in the Ilocos Region are being validated after they have been pre-identified for the pilot of face-to-face (F2F) classes in January next year.
In a virtual press forum on Thursday, Joey Pimentel, a statistician at the Department of Education (DepEd) Ilocos Region, said these schools have submitted the requirements and are being assessed by the central office.
Of the 50 schools, 28 are in Ilocos Norte, 19 are in Ilocos Sur, and three are in Pangasinan.
In the same forum, education program supervisor Johnson Sunga, Policy Planning and Research of DepEd-1, said the schools are those under level 1 risk or where there are a few or no coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in their area.
“Among the requirements are letters of support from the local government units and parents’ consent while for private schools they must submit a formal letter for their interest to offer F2F classes and must have an implementation plan for the F2F classes,” he said.
Sunga said the involvement of the learners in the F2F modality will be voluntary with the letter of consent from the parents.
“We will check their right to withdraw their child from the modality anytime,” he said.
He added that some safeguards will be observed to ensure the safety of the students such as the eligibility of the school, the learners, and the teachers who will take part in the pilot of F2F next year.
“There is no need to worry as the DepEd and the Department of Health are doing their best to ensure that they will return to classes safely,” he said.
Source: Philippines News Agency
