DepEd's preparation is proceeding fully for the upcoming school year

The Department of Education (DepEd) is in full swing in the preparation of the upcoming class opening on October 5, said DepEd Undersecretary for curriculum and instruction Diosdado San Antonio in an radio interview.

Ang paghahanda ay lalong pinapaigting at totoo po ‘yon, kagabi nga ay nagkaroon po ulit kami ng regular na pagpupulong sa aming mga regional directors at nag-usap tungkol sa mga kailangang gawin upang tuloy- tuloy na ang paghahandang ito.

[Preparations are intensified and last night we again had our regular meeting with the regional directors and talked about what needs to be done for the preparation to continue.]

San Antonio admitted that one of the biggest challenges the department is facing is the reproducing of self-learning modules and how will it be delivered. Despite his worries, he said that many schools had already started distributing their self-learning modules to the students.

Photo credit: mb.com.ph

Also, many schools had already started their dry run of distance learning and DepEd believes that many schools in the country is ready for the upcoming class opening on October 5.

47,000 something po ang mga paaralan natin. So, kung maghahanap po tayo ng kung baga, butas, sa aming mga inihanda, dahil hindi naman ito perpekto, makakakuha pa rin. Pero po naniniwala po kami na mas marami sa aming paaralan ang handang handa.

[Our schools are over 47,000. So, if we're looking for holes on what we have prepared, there will be, because it is not perfect. But we believe that most of our schools are ready.]

Despite this, about 10-15% still continue on reproducing the self-learning modules and the distribution might be next week.

According to San Antonio, DepEd has empowered principals on how to make the self-learning modules. 

On the other hand, San Antonio is thankful to the local governments for their support and help to schools in their respective area and added that there's still no face-to-face classes that will happen regardless of what state of quarantine the place is. This is in accordance to what President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said that there won't be any face-to-face classes until a vaccine for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is developed.

Dati depende po sa sitwasyon pero po nagpahayag po ang ating pangulo na ‘pag walang vaccine, walang pasok sa mga paaralan. So, lahat po distant learning.

[Previously, it depends on the situation but our president stated that ‘no vaccine, no class in classrooms.' So, everyone will use distant learning.]

Earlier, some youth group called for academic freeze and the department said that they respect the groups' wants.

Nauunawaan po natin na may mga sector na naghahanap palagi ng mga hindi magandang ginagawa ng gobyerno at kasama po yata itong hamon na magkaroon ng academic freeze. Nirerespeto po natin ang kanilang karapatan na magpahayag ng kanilang saloobin.

[We understand that there are sectors that keeps on looking for negative things that the government is doing and it seems academic freeze is included. We respect their right to express their thoughts.]

In fact, he said, many parents want to continue their child's education by 2020 based on the number of enrolled.