DepEd names 305 schools pilot areas for F2F classes

By Rhaydz B. Barcia

The Department of Education (DepEd) in Bicol has recommended 305 schools as pilot sites for limited face-to-face classes shortly after President Rodrigo Duterte gave the green light for its initial implementation in the country.

Mark Kevin Arroco of DepEd information office said they will provide an updated list of the schools to the Department of Health (DoH) and local government units (LGUs) concerned.

But the 305 schools recommended for limited face-to-face classes in Bicol are subject for DepEd central office approval, according to Arroco.

“We will provide you with the updated information once the list and operational guidelines for the limited face-to-face classes is available” Arroco said.

“We would like to clarify that the 305 schools are just nominated and they will be subjected for assessment from DepEd central office. We don’t have clearance yet as the central office will determine the final number and what schools will be allowed for limited face-to-face classes,” Mayflor Jumamil, DepEd-Bicol spokesperson said.

“What we are certain of is that there are 100 schools across the country plus 20 private schools that will be allowed for the limited face-to-face classes but we don’t know yet if there are schools in Bicol included in pilot testing,” she said.

“Director Sadsad is still waiting for the name and numbers of schools included in the pilot implementation,” she added.

The Department of Education (DepEd) in Bicol recorded 1,842,557 learners enrolled in various public and private kindergarten, elementary and senior high schools for school year 2021-2022 as of Sept.20, 2021.

Of the 1.8 million enrollees, 1,748,409 million students enrolled in public schools this year, 91,927 students in private schools, 14,540 students in Alternative Learning Schools (ALS), and 2,221 students enrolled in SUCs/LUCs (State Universities and Colleges, local universities and colleges in the region.

For the 2021-2022 school year, some 180,504 learners enrolled in Kindergarten; Elementary, 797,478; for Junior High Schools, 569,482; Senior High Schools, 291,348; and for non-graded 3,745.

Among the six provinces of Bicol, Camarines Sur has the highest number of enrollees with 469,765 followed by Albay with 268,618; Masbate, 260,402; Camarines Norte, 196,746; Sorsogon 193,234; and Catanduanes with 97,040.

For the seven cities in Bicol, Naga City has the most number of enrollees at 57,968 followed by Sorsogon City with 64,218; Legazpi City, 61,152; Tabaco City, 46,299; Ligao City, 43, 749; Iriga City; 37, 292; and Masbate City, 35,196.

Arroco said that majority of the enrollees this school year have chosen to adopt the Modular Distance Learning (MDL) system, while only few chose the online learning, radio and TV learning module, and the synchronous module.

“Majority of the learners and Bicolano parents have chosen the MDL systems due to poor internet connection and chronic power outages we are facing,” he said.

The Department of Education extended the enrollment period in Bicol to Sept. 30 because of the poor turnout of enrollees due to the pandemic.

But the number of enrollees this year is higher than that of last year’s (2020-2021) with 1,667,388 enrollees recorded or an increase of 175,169.