Deped reports smooth opening of classes for School Year 2022-2023
The City Schools Division reported that the opening of classes in the various public and private education institutions in the city went on smoothly amidst the usual isolated incidents of the inadequate classrooms among others in some schools.
City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Federico Martin claimed that except for the bad weather condition during the opening of classes, there were no untoward incidents that transpired in the different city schools when students started to troop to their classes in time for the implementation of blended learning.
He explained that in the city, there are 2 modes of classes, the full in person classes where there will be 5 days of face to face classes and the blended learning where there will be some days that will be devoted to face to face classes and a few days for online classes.
Martin claimed that of the 67 public elementary and secondary schools in the city, 45 schools are elementary institutions while 22 schools are secondary ones. Of the said number of schools, only 5 elementary schools are implementing full face to face classes while the rest are into blended learning.
The education official noted that among the reported isolated incidents in the different schools include the insistence of parents to be in the school compound to look after the welfare of their children, the unintentional non-wearing of face masks by the children and the non-observance of the prescribed physical distancing because of the eagerness of the children to me their acquaintances.
However, he stipulated that all the issues and concerns of the children and the parents were immediately acted upon by the school officials that paved the way for the smooth conduct of classes.
On the other hand, Martin explained that for schools that have full schedules, school officials decided to adopt the shifting of the schedule of classes to sustain the compliance of the children to the implementation of the minimum public health standards.
According to him, the education department remains steadfast in dealing with the issues and concerns that arise in the ongoing conduct of blended learning in preparation for the full implementation of face to face classes by November.
He said that the City Schools Division is ready to extend the appropriate support to the schools in the different parts of the city that need assistance in the implementation of in person or blended learning as part of the efforts of the government to go back to face to face classes after more than 2 years of being restricted due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Martin appealed to the parents of the learners to understand the restrictions being imposed by the various schools in the city, especially in not allowing them to loiter within the school campus during the duration of the classes, because the same is part of the ongoing health and safety protocols that are being imposed to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents that may cause future surges in COVID-19 cases.
At present, there are some 87,886 elementary and secondary students that are enrolled in the different private and public schools around the city where 63,690 are enrolled in public schools and 24,196 are enrolled in private schools. – Dexter A. See