The Departments of Health (DOH) and Education (DepEd) are set to issue joint guidelines on the possible holding of a dry run for limited face to face (F to F) classes in 120 schools nationwide.
Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, however, stressed that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has yet to endorse the DepEd proposal for the approval of President Duterte.
“This [proposal to hold F to F classes in120 schools] was based on our discussions with DepEd, based on their proposal for additional 20 [more] schools. But [the proposal is] still to be decided by IATF,” Vergeire told the BusinessMirror.
Vergeire said that the schools were chosen by DepEd for the F to F based on the agency’s “risk assessment tool.”
“DepEd has a risk assessment tool, included here are the risk classification of areas of DOH. We will issue joint guidelines,” Vergeire added.
On Thursday night, DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said they were informed that the “DOH has announced 120 schools planned for pilot face-to-face, subject to the approval by the President.”
“This number, higher than the 100 we presented to the Senate, was based on the request by Secretary [Leonor] Briones for additional allocation for private schools, and DOH is agreeable to the addition of 20 private schools,” Malaluan said.
“We will disclose the process upon approval of the joint DepEd-DOH guidelines,” he added.
It may be recalled that in June, Duterte rejected again the proposal of in-person classes amid the threat of Covid-19.