Sec. Briones said final decision for face-to-face classes still depends on Pres. Duterte

During the Handang Isip, Handa Bukas virtual press briefing of the Department of Education (DepEd), Education Secretary Leonor Briones has maintained that the decision to hold limited and strictly controlled in-person classes in places with low risk classification still depends on President Rodrigo Duterte.

Holding face-to-face classes will be determined by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), the local government executives, and ultimately, by the President himself because it was his directive not to hold face-to-face classes said Briones.

DepEd is part of IATF which they regularly monitors and reviews risk assessment classification in different areas. Briones said when it comes on the decision when to have face-to-face classes the department cannot decide alone.

We are considering and looking at the possibilities of limited, strictly monitored, and regulated face-to-face in certain places pero nasa local government iyan, nasa IATF and in the end, ang final analysis ay nasa Presidente kasi sa kanya nanggaling ‘yung mandato na ayaw niya ng face-to-face na approach sa learning,

Briones added.

[We are considering and looking at the possibilities of limited, strictly monitored, and regulated face-to-face in certain places but that is in the local government, it's in the IATF and in the end, the final analysis is in the President because the mandate came from him, that he does not want a face-to-face approach to learning,]

DepEd Undersecretary and Spokesperson Atty. Nepomuceno Malaluan said that the department continues to keep an eye on the developments regarding the school opening this year. He said that the department continues to make calibrations in relation to learning delivery.

Meanwhile, the number of students enrolled in public schools has already surpassed the data last school year. Based on the enrollment data of DepEd as of October 21, 22.71 million students are already enrolled in public schools for the School Year (SY) 2020-2021 or 100.6% of the SY 2019-2020 enrollment in 22.5 million.

The current enrollment in public and private schools at the basic education level is 24.98 million or 89.96% of last year's enrollment.