Province defers face-to-face classes

SOUTHERN LEYTE – The public and private schools in Southern Leyte applied for face-to-face classes next year, as some schools are still complying for requirements needed for this mode of learning.
The pilot testing of face-to-face classes in some provinces of the country have been successful last November 15, 2021 according to the Department of Education.
Southern Leyte was previously identified among those provinces that would pilot test face-to-face classes; however, this did not push through.
“The Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force won’t allow it,” says Department of Education (DepEd) Southern Leyte Schools Division Superintendent, Dr. Genis Murallos after the three identified schools – Liloan National Vocational High School, Pintuyan National High School and Sta. Cruz National High School in Malitbog were not included in the 10 schools in Eastern Visayas, due to rising COVID-19 cases in Southern Leyte at that time.
Murallos also said that one national high school from Hinundayan sent a recommendation letter to DepEd regional office for validation and, if possible, only senior high school of the technical vocational school from Lungsodaan National High School can participate in the face-to-face classes.
In an interview, College of Maasin (CM) President Rev. Zuriel Tiempo, revealed that CM applied to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for face-to-face classes, hoping for a positive reply from CHED next year; possibly laboratory classes of the college department can conduct in-person learning twice a week.
The list of schools is based on the evaluation of DepEd and the Department of Health (DOH), giving high considerations on the risk classification of the schools’ locations, minimal COVID-19 risk areas, passed the School Safety Assessment Tool, local government concurrence and parents’ consent.