Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 21) – The Department of Education said that students will not be forced to physically go to school once President Rodrigo Duterte approves the dry run for face-to-face classes.
“Kahit po napili ang paaralan o ang lugar na maging pilot school nitong face-to-face, may magulang na isa diyan na hindi siya kumportable na ang anak niya ay pumunta sa paaralan, hindi po dapat pilitin,” said DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio on Sunday.
[Translation: Even though a school is chosen as a pilot school for the face-to-face, there will be parents who are not comfortable to send their children again to school. So we will not force them.]
DepEd is preparing several options for the possible resumption of face-to-face classes in areas with low risk of COVID-19 transmission.
According to Undersecretary San Antonio, there won’t be a ‘one size fits all’ recommendation for the possible return of students to their classrooms.
He said guidelines on the limited resumption of face-to-face classes will depend on Duterte’s decision, as well as the dialogue between schools, parents, teachers and local government units.
“As usual, hindi siya prescriptive. May options for schools. So hindi one size fits all ang ibibigay natin. So kung sino ang magde-decide how frequent, ilan ang nandoon, basta hindi sosobra sa sasabihin namin, ay mga schools,” San Antonio said in an online forum.
[Translation: As usual, it will not be prescriptive. There will be options for schools. So we will not give something like ‘one size fits all.’ It will be the schools which will decide on how frequent are the classes and how many students will attend as long as it will not exceed our recommended number.]
San Antonio said the possible dry run for the resumption of face-to-face classes will be held in areas with low risk of COVID-19 transmission.
CNN Philippines Correspondent Xianne Arcangel contributed to this report
