(Eagle News) — The Department of Education on Monday, June 8, said the groundwork for blended learning was “well underway,” as it noted it would comply with President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive face-to-face classes be postponed until a vaccine against COVID-19 was available.
In a statement, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said DepEd was currently conducting its remote enrollment nationwide “in order to assess learners’ household information, which will be crucial in the preparation and contextualization of the learning delivery mode in each locality.”
She said radio, television, online and modular learning–which are already “pre-existing methods and were already used for decades”–are being prepared and updated for this year.
She said the department was also updating its policies, realigning finances and collaborating with partners “so that our goals of providing quality education and protecting the safety and health of our constituents will be achieved.”
It is also working with the private sector and education experts to make the necessary steps “logistically sound, especially on the development, acquisition and deployment of learning resources,” she said.
“At the same time, teachers are being trained on utilizing newer platforms and innovative tools to aid their professional development,” the Education secretary said.
While it is “a challenging task” to prepare the schools for a different set-up, she said “we are committed to our duty to make education available and thriving, even in the most difficult time.”
“The department is fully engaged in readying our operations based on our Basic Education-Learning Continuity Plan, from the Central Office down to the school level,” she said, adding the DepEd would provide regular readiness assessment reports to Congress.
“With a comprehensive BE-LCP and the President’s instruction serving as our guide, we will continue our preparations. Finally, with our stakeholders coming together, we can leap towards achieving our ultimate goal–of making education a symbol of hope amidst doubts and uncertainties,” she added.
The DepEd has set the opening of classes to August 24.
Earlier, President Duterte said it was “useless” talking about the opening of classes without a COVID-19 vaccine.
He said that while he believed the Philippines was “not ready” for blended education, the DepEd could proceed with the same if it had funds for the necessary equipment.
