Philippines: 2.6 million students in 10,000 schools resume limited in-person classes

Manila: Face-to-face classes have started for millions of Filipino students in more than 10,000 public and private schools as limited in-person sessions kicked off for the first time.

It's been two years since pandemic-driven movement curbs started in March 2022 in the country, and in most of the world.

An official of the Department of Education (DepEd) told local media that 9,994 public schools and 212 private schools have started limited in-person classes this week.

The school reopening is allowed under certain conditions. The school must pass an assessment, and the location should be in areas under Alert Levels 1 and 2. "These are the schools that can already reopen for face-to-face classes,” Education Assistant Secretary Malcolm Garma said in a press briefing, citing latest education data on Wednesday.

“The total of these participating schools is 10,196 schools,” the official said.

Regional offices of the education department have identified a total of 14,396 public and private schools with 2.6 million learners “nominated” to resume limited in-person classes following two years of home-based learning.

“Nominated schools are those that have already passed the School Safety Assessment Tool against COVID-19," Garma said.

In January, President Rodrigo Duterte greenlighted the proposal of education department to expand in-person classes in public and private schools in areas under lower alert levels. COVID cases have significantly dropped in the Asian country, amid aggressive COVID vaccination drive by health authorities. 

Schools must also secure approval from their respective local government units in order to conduct in-person classes, the official added.

Most of the Philippines is now under Alert Level 1, the lowest rung in the coronavirus preparedness level.

Earlier, the education department allowed more grade levels to participate in the “progressive expansion” of face-to-face classes.