VP stands pat on class start on August 22

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio said the start of the school year on August 22 is already final.

“That has been approved by the President. The school year will be from August 2022 to July 2023,” she said amid calls for the postponement of the opening of classes.

Duterte-Carpio said schools can now safely open since health protocols have already been put in place since the onset of the pandemic two years ago.

“The difference now is we know the health protocols by heart. We have vaccines and we have a lot of supply of it, and we have COVID-19 medicines,” the Vice President said.

“We need not wait for anything,” she added.

She said DepEd will not prescribe a class size once in-person classes resume at full capacity in November.

“We will not prescribe an exact class size because the situation differs per school,” she said.

“GSIS opens its education subsidy program for 10,000 college students who will receive P10,000 annually until they finish their course.”

Under DepEd Order No. 34, public and private basic education schools are mandated to shift to five days of in-person classes per week starting November 2.

Distance and blended learning will no longer be allowed beyond the said date, according to the order.

“What we put in that order and this has been approved by the President during the Cabinet meeting is that physical distancing shall be implemented whenever possible,” Duterte-Carpio said.

In-person classes resumed in basic education in late 2021 in nearly 300 “pilot” schools at a limited capacity.

Meanwhile, a recent Pulse Asia survey commissioned by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian showed an overwhelming preference for children’s participation in face-to-face classes in the coming school year.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, said this sends a signal to the government that the resumption of in-person classes should no longer be delayed.

The commissioned survey showed 94 percent of adult respondents agree that children should be allowed to attend face-to-face classes.

Four percent cannot ssay if they agree or may disagree and only two percent said they disagree.

“If we will listen to our countrymen, we will see the strong call for the return of face-to-face classes,” he said.