Sixty schools from far-flung areas in the Cordillera were initially listed to be part of the pilot areas for the proposed dry run for the face-to-face classes on Jan. 11 to 23 next year.
Department of Education-Cordillera Director Estela Cariño said the proposed pilot schools are those in low-risk areas and are situated in far-flung sitios of the region.
She said the 60 schools came from the six provinces except for Benguet and Baguio City that are yet to submit their proposed pilot schools.
“We will see to it that those who will be joining are voluntary and those schools where learners are related or members of one clan,” Cariño said.
She said they have coordinated with the municipal inter-agency task forces that recommended the schools and helped established protocols on how to implement the dry run.
“We will not go beyond 10 schools per division so we could monitor these schools for a month to see to it that we know what is happening and give assistance in case something happens,” Cariño said.
The schools were chosen based on the request of the local government units; learners need not travel or walk a long distance; there is a low Covid-19 case or none at all; teachers are from the same barangay as the learners; and evidence of shared responsibility between households and communities.
Cariño added the recommended schools do not need to conduct classes in school but in areas where they can gather; and they have recommended for them to meet only once a week.
“We will identify learners that really need the help of teachers. For high school students, some of them really need to be assessed in their schools,” she said, adding there are no schools that submitted their recommendations for senior high students yet.
The DepEd central office has announced the submission of recommended pilot schools would be until Dec. 18 while the final selection of pilot schools will be on Dec. 28.
Participating school officials and representatives will undergo orientation, mobilization, and readiness confirmation on Jan. 4 to 8 before the pilot implementation starts.
The two-week dry run will then commence on Jan. 11 to 23 after which regional reports will be submitted for final recommendation to the President. – Ofelia C. Empian
