DepEd allows private schools to hold hybrid, remote classes past November 2

MANILA — The Department of Education on Monday announced that private schools will be allowed to continue implementing either blended or full distance learning setups past November 2. 

This, after the department issued an addition to its earlier order outlining the school calendar and activities for the academic year 2022-2023.

DepEd Order No. 044, s. 2022 amends the initial calendar to give private schools the option to implement five days of in-person classes, full distance learning, or a blended learning modality, defined as three days of in-person classes and two days of distance learning or four days in person and one day of distance learning. 

“After November 2, no public school shall be allowed to implement pure distance or blended learning except for those allowed by the regional director, those whose classes are canceled due to disasters, and those implementing Alternative Delivery Modes,” the DepEd said. 

The national government stated that public schools “shall have transitioned to 5 days [of] in-person classes” also starting November 2, per an earlier DepEd order dated October 17.

Vice President Sara Duterte, concurrently Education Secretary previously stated that her department’s focus on face-to-face classes would still remain top priority while remaining open to the “possibility of the institutionalization of a blended learning mode of instruction.”

Private schools are among the hardest-hit learning institutions in the country as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the department’s official estimates, around 400,000 students will be compelled to transfer from private to public schools in 2020.

At a press briefing in August, the Department of Education said some 425 private schools around the country also decided to permanently close their doors largely due to the overwhelming costs incurred during the pandemic.

In a 2021 study, the World Bank found that around nine out of 10 Filipino children suffered from “learning poverty,” which is defined as the inability of 10-year-old children to read and comprehend a simple story.