A quarantine facility in the Rizal High School in Pasig City has not been cleared as in-person classes resume on Monday, August 22, 2022.
MANILA, Philippines – As the new school year began at Rizal High School (RHS) in Pasig City, a portion of its grounds remained ‘off-limits’ as a quarantine area, despite the Department of Education’s earlier instruction to dismantle such facilities.
RHS was among the public schools accredited by the Department of Health as a quarantine facility during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although over 6,150 students returned to RHS for in-person classes on Monday, the school’s gymnasium also is serving as the quarantine facility and is not accessible to students, faculty, and staff.
READ: DepEd working with LGUs to clear out schools used as quarantine facilities
According to newly installed RHS Principal Richard Santos, the school administration has coordinated with medical professionals and the Pasay City government to ensure the safety of students, teachers, and non-teaching personnel despite the said quarantine facility’s continuous operations.
“Tiniyak po nila na iyong security, iyong safety ng ating non-teaching, teaching personnel, kahit papaano, ay hindi naman masasakripisyo dahil naka-kurdon at merong area na kung saan talagang hanggang doon lamang iyong ating learners, mga teacher or other personnel of the school para masiguro po na wala talagang makakalapit po doon sa quarantine facility,” Santos told INQUIRER.net.
(They made sure that the safety of teachers and non-teaching personnel would not be sacrificed since a cord surrounds the area to ensure that learners, teachers and other personnel will not be able to go near the quarantine facility.)
To prepare for the students’ return to in-person classes, RHS had to clear most of its grounds which for two years, was used as a quarantine facility.
“Malaking paghahanda ang aming ginawa. Unang una na po riyan ang disinfection na ginawa naman po ng aming local government unit at noong ma-disinfect at binigyan na po kami ng clearance para pwede nang pasukin ang bawat room, naglinisan naman ang mga magulang, estudyante at guro,” Teresita Sambile, a Grade 8 guidance counselor at RHS, said in a separate interview.
(We did a lot of preparations. The local government unit first disinfected the school and gave us the clearance to enter the classrooms. Then, several parents, students and teachers came together to do another thorough cleaning.)
She then pointed out that the existing threat of COVID-19 pushed the school to prepare further other measures to ensure that health and safety protocols are being observed in RHS.
“Hindi pa rin po tapos iyong COVID,” Sambile noted. “Lahat po kami ay naghanda, lalong lalo na po iyong health protocols na kinonduct. Kanina, pagpasok pa lang ng bata ay nagkaroon ng body temperature [check], iyong handwashing na pinagagawa sa kanila at iyong alcohol na kailangan meron sila sa kanilang mga bag.”
(COVID is far from over. So we all prepared, especially the health protocols that need to be conducted. Upon the entry of students earlier, body temperature checks were done. They were also asked to wash their hands and keep a bottle of alcohol or sanitizer in their bags.)
As of last Friday, RHS has 12,300 pupils signed up for the 2022-2023 school year. Once enrollment finishes on Monday, Santos expects a surge.