Basic education classes will resume on October 5 as President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a six-week-long postponement amid the coronavirus crisis. The Department of Education made the recommendation to change the start date, which was originally earlier set on August 24, due to logistical challenges brought by Covid-19 quarantines.
Basic education classes will resume on October 5 as President Rodrigo Duterte ordered a six-week-long postponement amid the coronavirus crisis.
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones, in a surprise online press conference on Friday, announced that the President approved her recommendation to move the school opening which was earlier set for August 24.
Briones revealed she made the proposal as early as August 6, citing logistical limitations brought by the imposition of modified enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and in the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, and Laguna.
“We shall use the deferment to provide relief to the logistical limitations faced by the areas placed under MECQ and to fill in the remaining gaps of the school opening that we are currently addressing,” Briones said.
She said there are millions of learners in the MECQ areas, which are under the second strictest community quarantine status until August 18.
Other areas in the country are ordered to push through with their preparations, including orientations, dry runs, and delivery of learning resources.
Lawmakers and several groups have been calling on the government to push back the academic year 2020-2021, saying the schools, teachers, and learners are not ready, even for blended learning which does not require face-to-face classes.
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