Over 6,000 more schools ready for ‘expansion phase’ of in-person classes
MANILA, Philippines — Over 6,000 more schools are ready to join the Department of Education’s (DepEd) “progressive expansion” of face-to-face classes once the alert level status in their areas has been downgraded, an official said Friday.
“Basta maging Alert Level 2, ang report sa atin ng mga regional directors, we have more than 6,000 schools that are ready to join the expanded phase at parami nang parami ang mga handa na yan basta ma-comply na nila yung ating school safety assessment,” DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said during the Laging Handa briefing.
(Once the area is downgraded to Alert Level 2, the report from our regional directors, we have more than 6,000 schools that are ready to join the expanded phase and this figure continues to increase as long as the schools comply with our school safety assessment.)
Based on DepEd’s latest data, 304 schools in areas under the COVID-19 Alert Level 1 or 2 are eligible to begin face-to-face classes.
Meanwhile, 59 pilot public and private schools in Regions 4A, 8, 10, and National Capital Region are still implementing limited in-person classes.
“Kaya nga natin tinawag ito na progressive expansion phase, this is on a rolling basis,” Malaluan said, noting that there are 60,000 public and private schools nationwide.
(The reason we call this progressive expansion phase, because this is on a rolling basis.)
Malaluan said DepEd continues to closely coordinate with the Department of Health (DOH) as it moves forward with the “progressive expansion” of in-person classes.
“There are a number of factors to consider in the further relaxation of the protocols and that includes the vaccination levels at saka itong [and our] continuous observance nitong ating [of our] safety protocols,” he said.
“So those are considerations that will continue dahil patuloy pa rin yung ating close partnership with the Department of Health in our decisions moving forward doon sa ating expansion phase,” he added.
(So those are considerations that will continue because we remain in close partnership with the Department of Health in our decisions moving forward in our expansion phase.)
