DepEd considering shorter timeline for limited in-person classes pilot run

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) is considering shortening the timeline for the pilot run of the limited face-to-face classes, but is looking at it with careful consideration, an official said Thursday.

This was after senators questioned the timeline of the pilot run, where the possible expansion of the study is set for March next year.

DepEd Usec. Nepomuceno Malaluan said the department has already met with its technical team to review the timeline of the study but said that it is “very careful” in its consideration since the expansion is “very critical.”

“Itong pilot na ito kaya napakasusi kasi tingin natin very critical to the expansion so we are being very careful with this phase kasi kahit maliit lamang na schools ang pariticipating dito, malaki ang impact sa expansion phase,” he said in a Laging Handa public briefing.

(This pilot is key because we see that this is very critical to the expansion so we are being careful because even though the participating schools are few, it would have a huge impact on the expansion phase.)

“We are considering that [shorter timeline],” he added.

Senators earlier expressed concern that the 120 schools for the pilot run are just a small fraction of some 60,000 public and private schools in the country.

With the possible expansion of the study set on March 7 next year, which is six months after the start of the pilot run on Nov. 15, Senate basic education committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian said this may be too late.

“How come that it would take us six months to gather more information? My point is if we have this kind of timetable, we’d have two years of school closures,” he said.

Based on the DepEd timeline, officials will expand limited face-to-face classes on March 7 based on the assessment of the pilot run. The DepEd will identify and prepare more schools for limited face-to-face classes only in February.

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