Duterte rejects fresh bid to resume face-to-face classes — Palace

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has thumbed down a new proposal to resume in-person classes as the country’s mass immunization program against Covid-19 remains pending, Malacañang said Monday.

“Nagdesisyon na po ang Presidente, wala pa rin po tayong face-to-face classes sa bansa,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an online Palace briefing.

(The President has decided that we will still not hold face-to-face classes.)

“Tumawag po ang Presidente kagabi sa akin at sabi niya, ayaw po niyang malagay sa panganib ang buhay ng ating mag-aaral at mga guro habang wala pa pong nababakunahan sa bansa,” he added.

(The President called me last night and he said that he doesn’t want to put the lives of students and teachers in peril while we still don’t have the vaccines.)

According to Roque, the President expressed hope that face-to-face classes in low-risk areas for Covid-19 may resume by August.

“Sabi niya, may awa naman po ang Panginoon, baka naman po pagkatapos natin malunsad ang ating vaccination program, e pupuwede na tayong mag face to face sa Agusto lalong lalo na sa lugar na mababa ang Covid cases,” Roque said.

(He said that, God in his mercy, we may be allowed to hold face-to-face classes possibly by August after the vaccine rollout, especially in places where there are low cases of COVID-19.)

Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier made a fresh bid to reopen schools and allow in-person classes because most learners, who have been cooped up for too long during the year-round lockdown, have been missing physical schooling and learning in school.

This, despite the lack of classrooms, sanitary facilities and health service in public schools, the Department of Education (DepEd) again made a pitch to resume in-person classes in the country on Thursday.

EDV