Malacañang clarified that pilot testing of face-to-face classes will be done in a voluntary basis and will still require approval from local government units and parents of students.
“Voluntary ito sa parte ng mga magulang, mag-aaral, at mga lokal na pamahalaan,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing.
[This is voluntary on the part of the parents, students, and local governments.]
President Rodrigo Duterte has recently approved the DepEd’s recommendation to conduct a dry run of face-to-face in select schools for the whole month of January next year.
The pilot testing of face-to-face classes on selected schools will run from January 11 to 23.
Education Secretary Leonor Briones will come up with the list of pilot schools by December 28, all to be picked from areas with low-risk of COVID-19 transmission.
He added that DepEd should coordinate with COVID-19 National Task Force for the monitoring of the conduct of the pilot implementation.
The president earlier banned face-to-face classes in the whole country until a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available.
