1st day of pilot face-to-face classes successful – Briones

Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones said Tuesday that the first day of pilot in-person classes went “very, very successful.”

According to the official, 97 out of the 100 public schools joined the pilot testing of face-to-face classes.

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“We consider it very, very successful,” Briones said during the Laging Handa briefing.

“Excited na excited na ang lahat. Ang pinaka-excited siguro ang mga kabataan, kasi sila makikita nila ‘yung mga fellow children at gusto nilang makabisita sa schools… It’s a wonderful day for everyone,” she added.

(Everyone was so excited. The students were probably the most enthusiastic because they would see their fellow students and they wanted to visit the schools … It’s a wonderful day for everyone.)

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Briones also talked about the three schools in Zambales, which did not push through with the pilot run after three teachers acquired COVID-19.

“We deferred the three schools after some of the teachers tested positive. This is an opportunity for us to intensify our emergency measures into the challenges. That is the purpose of the pilot [classes],” Briones said in Filipino.

“By next week, by November 22, the 100 schools are complete. Right now, the three teachers are on repeat tests [for COVID], we are very confident that the three schools will proceed,” she added.

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1st day of pilot face-to-face classes successful – Briones

Briones said President Rodrigo Duterte allowed DepED and the Department of Health (DOH) to decide on adding more schools

Meanwhile, Education Undersecretary Revsee Escobedo said they would further evaluate the pilot run of in-person classes in 100 schools before it could be implemented in the National Capital Region.

“Based on reports given by the 12 regions, the opening of face-to-face classes in 97 schools was smooth. It is a good experience, and will be a benchmark on how it will be expanded if Metro Manila mayors would request for pilot tests, even only one in each city,” Escobedo said in Filipino.

Meanwhile, although there are already operational guidelines for returning frontline classes in elementary and select high schools, 13 groups say it is still “deficient” or insufficient to ensure the safety of children against COVID-19.

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