BY MERLINA HERNANDO-MALIPOT
The Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday assured that the preparations – on a nationwide scale – are in full swing for the Oct. 5 school opening in public schools at the basic education level.
DepEd, in a statement, said that all concerned units at the Central Office, regional offices, and schools division offices are conducting various activities and initiatives to ensure the school opening for 2020-2021 in October will be as smooth and orderly as possible.
DepEd said that it is “continuously preparing for the opening of classes” as teachers are engaged in various ‘upskilling’ activities, including module and worksheet writing, messenger and Google classroom, and mental health, resilience and stress care.
Parents, DepEd said, are also invited to attend sessions on parenting in the midst of pandemic, “Virtual Ugnayang Paaralan-Tahanan” and parents orientation and consultation.
Meanwhile, DepEd commended the initiatives of various local government units (LGUs) and their respective leaders for their support to the Basic Education – Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP) of the agency.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones, in a virtual press briefing on Aug. 24, extended her gratitude to LGUs and its leaders for supporting the continuity of education among students in their respective areas.
In particular, DepEd cited the efforts of the City of Manila for providing laptops and gadgets to the students and teachers. These will be used fordistance learning this school year since the conduct of face-to-face classes is not yet allowed by the authorities.
Briones thanked Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno for his “aggressive and persistent” efforts related to education. She also commended Moreno for his “informing the public about what local governments and national departments do together and work together for the continuance of education.
To support learning continuity this coming school year, the Manila City local government is providing its schools division a P1.2 billion-worth of learning continuity packages for Manila public school teachers and students.
On August 26, Moreno and DepEd Undersecretary Alain Del Pascua led the turnover ceremony for the initiative. The Manila LGU distributed 11,000 laptops with pocket Wi-Fi for teachers, 136,950 tablets and 296,000 data sim cards for students.
With an allocation of P 1.234 billion from the Special Education Fund (SEF), Manila LGU is set to provide each household with one tablet and each Manila public school teacher with one laptop on top of a 10 gigabytes of data allocation per month for students and teachers.
The said gadgets for the conduct of distance learning were received by Ma. Magdalena Lim, Division Schools Superintendent of Manila, as part of the preparation of their division for the formal opening of classes on Oct. 5.
DepEd said that the actual distribution of the gadgets will start on September 1 for elementary and secondary schools. Meanwhile, orientations for learners on the proper use of the self-learning modules and gadgets and webinars regarding cyber ethics and mental health will be conducted after the distribution.
This school year, DepEd will implement blended/distance learning wherein schools will be using various alternative learning delivery modalities such as modular – print and offline, online learning and TV/radio-based instruction.
While blended/distance learning does not fully depend on the use of technology, Briones underscored the importance of strengthening the education system’s computerization program. “How to transmit education depends on the use of technology because this is what the times call for even with or without COVID,” she ended.
