MANILA, Philippines — Only about 3,000 out of over 16,000 basic education teachers from 638 different schools across the country have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as the government is set to start pilot face-to-face classes, an official of the Department of Education (DepEd) said Thursday.
DepEd Usec. Nepomuceno Malaluan said the education department will meet with the National Task Force against COVID-19, which handles the government’s vaccination program, to discuss the vaccination of teaching and non-teaching personnel ahead of the start of pilot in-person classes set to start on Nov. 15.
He said teachers and non-teaching personnel participating in the pilot classes should be vaccinated to ensure the safety of the students.
The DepEd will also propose to look into the vaccination status of household members of students’ participating in the in-person classes to further ensure their safety.
“Isasama rin namin sa agenda ‘yung aspeto ng vaccination of the household members or vulnerable members of the family of the students that will participate,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing.
Out of the 638 nominated schools, 59 have so far passed the risk assessment of the Department of Health (DOH) for the limited face-to-face classes.
Malaluan said the figure will still be updated to meet the target of 120 schools.
The pilot classes will run from Nov. 15 until January 31.
In September, Duterte approved the holding of face-to-face classes in areas with minimal risk for COVID-19.