March 29, 2024

As more schools in the Cordillera are reopening for in-person classes, each school has contextualized its setup to cater to the needs of learners.
DepEd-Benguet Schools Division Superintendent Gloria Buya-ao said in-person classes last only for four hours in big schools and one hour for smaller schools. The learners report to school two to three times a week.
There are also schools that consider the location of students, where they group students coming from one area considering the problems in their transportation.  
“One thing we also consider are those with siblings. If the younger sibling is in grade 1 and the older is in grade 6, they have to be in the same schedule. These are some of our considerations in the schools depending on their context,” Buya-ao said.  
Also, there are schools that prioritize students having difficulty in their modular classes to attend in-person classes.
“After working on the psycho-social aspects when the learners came to school, they realized na marami pang kailangang ituro sa mga bata na hindi nila natutunan sa loob ng dalawang taon na puro module,” Buya-ao said.
Mountain Province Schools Division Superintendent Sally Ullalim said each school has its own mechanism such as starting classes in different hours. 
Ullalim said contingency plans like placing a learner in an isolation room or referred to a health personnel if experiencing fever.
Benguet National High School teacher Frederico Ancheta said part of the adjustments in the in-person classes is reviewing previous topics for clarification.
Ancheta, who teaches electrical installation under the Technical Vocational Livelihood track, said they have to compress their topics to be on track with their current competencies.
He added they also combined various competencies that they were not able to conduct in the previous quarter upon resuming the face-to-face classes. 
He said he has grouped his students with five learners at a time.
DepEd-CAR Assistant Director Florante Vergara said the setup of in-person classes is dependent on the context of the schools all while adhering to the school safety assessment tools (SSAT) set by the DepEd. 
Vergara said due to the limited number of students per class, blended learning is still in place to complement the conduct of in-person classes. The region now has 863 public schools  implementing face-to-face classes. – Ofelia C. Empian