DepEd guideline for in-person classes includes 30-minute transport time cap

MANILA, Philippines — To ensure that students would not catch the coronavirus once in-person classes have resumed, the Department of Education (DepEd) is looking at limiting the contact time of those taking the public transportation.

DepEd Undersecretary and spokesperson Nepomuceno Malaluan told the Senate committee on basic education Wednesday that contact time shouldn’t be not more than 30 minutes.

During the hearing, Malaluan informed the committee that DepEd has come up with a supplemental  guideline to the Department of Transportation’s (DOTr) so-called seven commandments for all regulated public transportation.

“If there’s a regulated public transportation to school and this will just be a supplemental and really if there’s a compelling reason to include some form of public transportation, then we are just sharing the so-called seven commandments as issued by the DOTr in the use of public transportation,” he said.

“We did not include here but a supplemental guideline here is the limitation of the contact time to no more  than 30 minutes within a vehicle,” Malaluan added.

The seven commandments of the DOTr for all regulated public transportation are the wearing of proper face masks, wearing of face shields, no talking and no eating, adequate ventilation, frequent and proper disinfection, no symptomatic passengers, and appropriate physical distancing.

Malaluan  also discussed  during the hearing other safety measures such as the limited number of schools and classes that would be allowed should the proposed pilot run of face-to-face classes push through.

The  dry run was initially set to start last January but was suspended due to new cases of more contagious  UK variant  of  the virus.

EDV