60 Cordillera schools to start face-to-face classes

By Liza Agoot  

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The Dept. of Education Cordillera Administrative Region has listed 60 schools in provinces of the region where limited face-to-face classes can be piloted as classes resume in January next year.
    “We submitted 60 schools located in provinces,” said Dr. Estela Cariño, DepEd-CAR regional director, in a press conference on Wednesday.
    There are 1,843 public schools in the whole Cordillera.
    Abra proposed 10 elementary schools; Apayao, 10 elementary schools; and 10 elementary and high schools each for the provinces of Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, and Tabuk City.
    Except for Baguio, which has intimated that it is not requesting for inclusion, Benguet is still waiting for the endorsement of its local government unit.
    Cariño said they hope to have the final shortlisted schools by Dec. 18.
    “We prefer the schools where the learners and teachers come from one family or clan,” she noted.
    “We want to limit the schools to only 10 per division because it will be difficult to monitor them if they are numerous,” she added.
    The monitoring will be done monthly for submission to the central office.
    All schools that will be included in the pilot testing must have all the safety protocols in place, including the establishment of a toilet for all classrooms with available water for handwashing and flushing, and provision of a nurse to monitor the health condition of the learners and distribute face masks and face shields.
    She said a maximum of 20 learners will be allowed in a classroom with a size of 9x7 meters while 15 will be allowed in a 7x7-meter classroom.
    She added that they are targeting learners who are having difficulty in their studies as all students cannot join the pilot testing for the limited face-to-face classes.
    Carmel Meris, chief of the curriculum development of DepEd-CAR, said the learners and teachers of a school must be residing in the same community and do not need to walk far to reach the school. The school's location has not recorded any case of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) too.
    Aida Payad, chief of the policy, planning and research division, said that learners will continue to receive modules despite the face-to-face classes.
    Students in the different schools in Cordillera have opted for the printed modular learning modality. Some use the blended modalities but all are provided with the printed modules. -- PNA