Over half of all public schools nationwide have already gone back to in-person learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Education (DepEd) said.
In her presentation during President Rodrigo Duterte’s Talk to the People aired Tuesday, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said a total of 25,668 public schools or 56.89% of the total have resumes face-to-face studies.
DepEd is expecting 5,948,640 public school students from all grade levels to participate in face-to-face classes.
Briones noted that this number is 25.61% of the 23,230,898 total enrollees in the public school sector in the current academic year.
All in all, 6,175,631 students are attending face-to-face classes in 26,344 schools nationwide.
The Education secretary said it remains a challenge for DepEd that only 676 private schools or 5.47% of its total number have resumed face-to-face classes.
At least 226,991 students or 7.09% of the private school learners are expected to join this development.
“It is ironic that at the height of the debates on face-to-face schooling, there were many demands for face-to-face, but now that we have approved it, there are only 676 private schools opening face-to-face,” she added.
Deputy Chief Implementer Vince Dizon of the National Task Force Against (NTF) COVID-19 pointed out there were various reasons why there was a “resistance” from private schools to hold in-person classes again.
“The most compelling of which is that some parents in the private schools are still quite apprehensive about letting their children go back to face-to-face classes, which of course is the right of every parent,” Dizon explained.
In February, DepEd authorized all regional directors to begin the “progressive expansion” phase of face-to-face classes for both public and private schools.
This followed President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval of the department’s recommendation to expand face-to-face classes in areas under Alert Level 2 and below.
The pilot testing of face-to-face classes in the country started in November 2021 for both public and private schools that were subject to strict health protocols.
Only vaccinated teachers may participate in the face-to-face classes, while vaccinated learners are preferred, DepEd.