A teacher and her students learn together at the Pedro Cruz Elementary School in San Juan City as it reopened its in-person classes on Thursday, February 10, 2022. The school passed the DepED Schools Safety Assessment Tool (SSAT) which shows its readiness for the limited in-person learning modality. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE)
MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The (DepEd) is eyeing the easing of requirements for the implementation of in-person classes as Metro Manila and other areas shift to a 鈥渘ew normal鈥� starting this month.
鈥淸The DepEd] thinks that alert levels 1 and 2 are almost the same 鈥� so now that it鈥檚 Alert Level 1, we want to reduce the protocols,鈥� Education Secretary Leonor Briones said during President Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 taped report aired on Monday night.
As of February, 1,726 out of 6,213 qualified schools have reopened for in-person classes.
With more areas, including Metro Manila, on Alert Level 1 鈥� the least restrictive quarantine classification 鈥� from March 1 to March 15, Briones said the number of schools allowed to conduct physical classes would soon increase so 鈥渋f we are asked, we hope to loosen up the requirements.鈥�
The DepEd and Department of Health officials are scheduled to meet on March 4 to discuss the matter.
鈥淎lert Level 1 will be aligned to the impending return to normalcy in the economy,鈥� she said.
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