DOH, DepEd sign joint circular for pilot run for limited in-person classes

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Health (DOH) on Monday signed a joint memorandum circular providing the guidelines for the pilot implementation of limited face-to-face classes in the country.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III signed the circular in a ceremonial signing event.

Briones said it took the government one and a half years of planning, monitoring, and discussing, and debating before the government agreed to conduct in-person classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government was supposed to hold the pilot run for in-person classes earlier this year but President Duterte cancelled this over the emergence of more infectious COVID-19 variants.

“It is now fairly safe for us to start the pilot study,” she said in a speech during the signing ceremony.

Briones said 120 schools — 100 public and 20 private — are set to take part in the pilot run. She added that the government needs to secure the support of local government units where the classes will be held, as well as the written consent of the parents, before in-person classes can be conducted.

To be more specific, 95 public elementary schools, five public senior high schools, and 20 schools are set to participate in the pilot run.

Presenting the key guidelines for the pilot run, DepEd Planning Service Director Roger Masapol said students from elementary schools participating in the pilot program should only be from kinder to Grade 3.

They should have no comorbidities, reside in the city where the school is located, and able to walk to school from home are preferred.

School personnel should be 65 years old and below, also with no comorbidities.

Classes for Kinder should only have 12 students maximum, and classes for Grade 1 to 3 should only have a maximum of 16 learners, Masapol said.

Senior high school classes should only have 20 learners while senior high classes in laboratories, workshops, or technical vocational education should only have 12 learners maximum.

Only one teacher will be deployed per class for Kinder to Grade 3 to minimize exposure during the pilot run of face-to-face classes, Masapol said.

The pilot program is set to run for two months.

“We want to ease the negative mental health and child development impact of the lack of face to face interaction and socialization among learners,” Masapol said, explaining the rationale behind the decision to hold limited in-person classes.

The DepEd did not yet give an exact date when the pilot run would start.

On Sept. 20, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the holding of limited face-to-face classes in areas with minimal risk for COVID-19.

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