- MITCH M. LIPA
Sixteen schools in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental are among the 29 schools all over Western Visayas that will be assessed by the Department of Education evaluators starting this week if they are ready for limited face-to-face classes.
Negros Occidental Schools Division, School Governance Operations head Romeo Sison, said these schools were recommended by their division offices.
Most of these schools are in remote areas with low to zero cases of COVID in the barangays where they are located.
In the first district of Negros Occidental, the San Carlos City Schools Division Office identified the Tandang Sora Elementary School as pilot for elementary, and Don Carlos Ledesma National High School for junior and senior high school students. The Escalante City Schools Division recommended the Binaguiohan Elementary School as candidate.
In the second district, the Cadiz City Division Office identified the Hiyang-Hiyang Manara Extension Elementary School. The Sagay City Schools Division Office recommended the General Luna ES, Hamticon ES, Laon ES, Manara ES, Pacol ES, and the Colonia Divina ES.
For the fourth district, the Bago City Schools Division recommended the Astro Farms Elementary School.
In the sixth district, the Kabankalan City Schools Division Office identified the Inapoy ES, while the Sipalay City Division Office chose Mauboy ES and Vista Alegre ES as candidates for pilot testing.
The Negros Occidental Schools Division Office, which covers schools from 13 municipalities and two cities with no separate division offices, identified the Purita Mora ES in Barangay Zone 16, Talisay City, as possible pilot school, Sison said.
No schools in the third and fifth districts were recommended for pilot testing.
For the Bacolod City Schools Division Office, Schools Division Superintendent Gladys Amylaine Sales recommended the Alangilan National High School.
Sales added that the face-to-face classes will only be for Senior High School, and more than 100 students from different tranches of the SHS program will be involved.
Sales said they chose Alangilan NHS since it is located in the most remote barangay of Bacolod City and the COVID cases were low or even zero.
The have coordinated with Alangilan Barangay Captain Degie Tanista Sr. regarding the plan and discussed how to assist the students in going to and from school.
Evaluators from the DepEd central office are set to arrive in Bacolod City this week, she added.
The DepEd said that schools that will take part in the pilot implementation of the face-to-face learning modality should pass the safety and readiness assessment of the Department, and adhere to the strict joint guidelines set by DepEd and the Department of Health and other protocols of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases as well as organizations specializing in children’s health.
The operational guidelines provide health and safety standards in terms of personal protective equipment, sanitation, detection and referral, ventilation, contact tracing, and quarantine, coordination, and contingency measures.
Secretary Leonor Briones, said in a statement, that class size will be reduced to 12 learners for kindergarten, 16 for grades 1 to 3, and 20 learners for technical-vocational students, while class sessions will only run for a maximum of three hours for kindergarten to Grade 3 and four hours for Senior High School.
The pilot face-to-face classes will also be conducted every other week, with participating schools ensuring that class schedules are arranged equitably so that all qualified learners have the opportunity to participate in physical classes.
The endeavor will be subject to close monitoring for two months and undergo risk assessment.
About 100 public and 20 private schools in minimal-risk COVID-19 areas are set to participate in the limited face-to-face classes nationwide, after President Rodrigo Duterte approved recently the DepEd proposal in consideration of the education quality, mental health, and economic issues amid the pandemic.
The rest of the basic education schools in the Philippines will continue with blended distance learning. –MML
