MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – The top official of the Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7) disclosed that the exclusion of four schools in Bogo City that were initially selected for the pilot run of limited face-to-face classes was due to the rise of COVID-19 cases in their respective barangays.
DepEd-7 Director Salustiano Jimenez told CDN Digital that the barangay officials as well as the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) in four schools allegedly came up with the resolutions, requesting the Department not to push through with the implementation of the limited face-to-face classes there.
Among the schools in Bogo City in northern Cebu that were excluded from the pilot run were Combado Elementary School, Odlot National High School, Don Potenciano Catarata National High School, and Bartolome Pianar National High School.
Jimenez said the decision was made after asking and revalidating the new concurrence coming from the PTAs and the local government units (LGUs) concerned.
“It so happened that the four schools, the barangay officials came up with the resolution because of the increase of the COVID cases in their area, requesting the Department of Education not to implement the pilot limited-face-to-face in the school located in their barangays,” said Jimenez.
“Though before, during the time nga we proposed those schools, there were concurrence nila, naa nato sila’y resolution supporting [the conduct of limited face-to-face] unya mao to nausab na karon tungod lagi sa cases of COVID,” he added.
The regional director, however, said that barangay officials, in coordination with the PTAs, also requested that they will be included in the expansion of the said classes.
As of October 19, 2021, only 3o schools will participate in the pilot run in the entire country, eight of which are from Central Visayas.
All of the eight schools are in Cebu Province, and these include the following: Basak Elementary School (Samboan), Mahanlud Elementary School (Malabuyoc), Cabagdalan Elementary School (Balamban), Luyongbaybay Elementary School (Bantayan), Cañang-Marcelo Luna National High School (Oslob), Busay National High School (Moalboal), Pilar National High School (Pilar), and Siocon Elementary School (Bogo City).
READ: DepEd allows only 8 schools in CV to proceed with limited F2F classes
Jimenez said they kept on appealing to the central office to include those proposed schools in Bohol and Negros Oriental, which he said were now subject for evaluation of the Department of Health (DOH).
He said the pilot run, which is scheduled to start on November 15, is expected to end by the first week of February next year.
/bmjo
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