First day of In-Person Classes Peaceful, Orderly: DepEd

The first day of the in-person classes in the Philippines after two years of online, module-based, and blended learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic went well, according to the Department of Education (DepEd) Monday.

No untoward incidents were reported to the department, according to DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa.

“As 9:20 a.m. po, base po sa mga updates ng ating mga regional directors, maayos at mapayapa po ang pagbabalik eskwela ng ating mga learners. Wala pa pong nakakarating sa amin na untoward incidents. Patuloy po kaming naka-monitor sa ating mga paaralan,” Poa said.

As public and private schools nationwide reopened for in-person classes, safety guidelines were mandated by DepEd, including wearing face masks, proper sanitation, and temperature checks.

Moreover, DepEd said that it is implementing a “no discrimination policy” for students and school personnel attending the in-person classes whether or not they’re vaccinated against COVID-19.

This comes as DepEd reported on August 19 that only a mere 19 percent of students are vaccinated, while 92 percent of teaching and non-teaching personnel have been inoculated.

Poa said three days before the start of classes that the reason behind the low vaccination rate among students is that the government’s vaccination program is not mandatory.

Meanwhile, DepEd also announced in a tweet that 28,035,042 students are enrolled for the school year 2022-2023, which is higher by 1.72 percent compared to the school year 2021-2022’s 27,560,661 enrollees.

“Batay sa datos mula sa Learner Information System (LIS) para sa SY 2022-2023 nitong Agosto 22, 2022, nasa 28,035,042 na ang bilang ng mga nagparehistro na mga mag-aaral. Ito ay katumbas ng 101.72% o higit sa naitalang datos mula sa enrollment ng SY 2021-2022,” the DepEd tweet read.

However, the turnout is still lower than the targeted 28.6 million enrollees for this school year.

Since COVID-19 struck the Philippines into a lockdown in March 2020, in-person learning has been prohibited for two years.
(GFB)