BAGUIO CITY– The Cordillera office of the Department of Education (DepEd) recently confirmed that seven basic education institutions in the region reportedly decided to cease operations effective in the coming schoolyear because of the heavy impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) to the state of the education sector.
DepEd-CAR regional director May Eclar said that of the 7 basic education institutions, 5 are based in Baguio City while are 2 are located in Ifugao.
However, she pointed out that the closure of the said schools have not been directly attributed to the wrath of the global pandemic but the same could be traced to reasons created by the impact of the implementation of the Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).
In the case of the Baguio-based schools, the closure of the said institutions was traced to the reported no more enrollees from Korea, bankruptcy, operators can no longer afford the rentals of the spaces of their classrooms and the absence of occupancy permit for the structures being occupied by the schools.
However, education officials were not privy to the reasons on why the two Ifugao-based schools decided to stop operations effective schoolyear 2020-2021 which starts on August 24, 2020.
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Earlier, the education department embarked on the implementation of blended learning for the coming schoolyear to ensure that there will be no undue interruption in the classes amidst the wrath of the global pandemic and to make sure that students are able to complete their studies on time.
Part of the blended learning will include some physical or face to face classes, use of gadgets and the use of modules for learners in the remote areas who have no access to the latest information and communication technology gadgets.
Further, another platform being considered by the education department which will be used in the implementation of blended learning is radio and television but the same should be free because advertisers will surely be convinced to place their advertising materials on the schedule of classes because of the presence of captive audience that include the students and their parents or guardians.
According to her, the education department cannot ascertain at this time the number of basic education institutions that had been impacted by the implementation of the Luzonwide ECQ because there were no additional reports that have reached her office on the said matter, especially that the upcoming schoolyear is fast approaching.
She stated that the education department is doing everything to minimize the conduct of face to face learning while the threat of COVID-19 is still evident to prevent the students and pupils from being exposed to contracting the disease which could be dangerous on their part because of the negative effect of the deadly virus to the health of the people.
She encouraged prospective enrollees to already reach out to the schools where they decide to study and accomplish the forms to help in guiding education officials on what necessary interventions to adopt for the coming schoolyear to be able to attend to the needs of the students and pupils impacted by the ECQ implementation.
By Hent
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