‘Thanks to God’: Bohol teachers welcome class postponement to Oct. 5

TAGBILARAN CITY—Teachers in Bohol province welcomed the postponement of class opening to Oct. 5, saying it gave them more time to prepare.

“Thanks to God,” said Maurine Castano, principal of Dr. Cecilio Putong National High School (DCPNHS) in Tagbilaran City.

She said she felt glad when she heard of news about the postponement.

School administrators, she said, will have enough time to prepare facilities for learning.

Castaño said teachers have been giving parents orientation on the near learning method.

“We are conducting two modes of orientation—face-to-face and virtual,” she said. School officials, she added, meet with parents to distribute learning modules “every now and then.”

As of Aug. 14, Castano’s school has 7,760 enrolees in Grade 7 to 12, which was higher than last year’s.

But most enrolees were transferees from private schools.

DCPNHS is the catch basin of learners in Tagbilaran City and nearby towns.

Jeycelle Espejo-Inting, a Grade 7 teacher, said she was very happy that the opening of classes was postponed.

“We will have enough time to prepare for the upcoming class which is all new to all of us,” said Inting.

“It’s like testing the water. It’s like we are trying to find out what are the best ways for this new norm in the educational system,” she said.

By Oct. 5, Inting said she believed teachers would be ready for online classes.

“Given more than a month to prepare, I think that would be enough to prepare everything,” Inting said.

She said teachers were not ready if classes opened on Aug. 24 “but if we will be given more than a month for preparation, I think that would be enough.”

According to Education Secretary Leonor Briones, the decision to delay the school opening was due to logistical limits brought by the imposition of a modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in Metro Manila and in the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, and Laguna.

TSB