Private schools in the country are now allowed to continue with blended learning—both distance learning and
face-to-face classes in the Philippines combined, even after November 2 until the end of the school year 2023, as officially allowed and announced by the Department of Education.
The new DepEd Order No. 44, signed by Vice President Sara Duterte, was published on the education sector’s website on October 17. [1]
According to the amended order,
private schools in the Philippines can implement face-to-face classes for three days to push through with this new mandate. The remaining two days will be allotted for online or modular classes. Another option will be four days of face-to-face classes and one day of distance learning through modules or online sessions. These schools can also implement complete distance learning or have allotted all five days of the week for online or modular classes.
With this, private schools can now have the option to choose the mode of holding classes in their respective learning setups, as long as they follow the arrangements prescribed by DepEd.
Meanwhile, public schools should have transitioned to full 5-day face-to-face classes on November 2. Public schools can no longer hold blended or distance learning classes beyond November 2.
DepEd now disregards the debate on which learning strategy will be pushed through by private schools and institutions and by the students themselves. DepEd, however, pointed out that ‘the importance of in-person or
face-to-face classes is an undisputable fact’, as found by relevant studies and that this learning modality is the ‘best option for primary education. [3]
The Department of Education is fully aware of the impacts of the pandemic on private sectors—from investing in online technologies for online learning and institutionalization of practices on blended learning to the closure of some small private schools due to losses.
DepEd Order No. 44 is amended and updated with DepEd Order 34, issued last July 2022. It presents the guidelines for opening the school year in response to the situation of the new normal education in the Philippines.
All details and information in this article are true and accurate as of the publication date. However, while we are making our utmost effort to keep our content as up-to-date as possible, the condition surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be unpredictable, and the situation is developing rapidly. Hence, some information and recommendations may have changed since this article was published. For the latest advice, visit DOH and your LGU's official websites.
Sources:
[1] https://bit.ly/3scGbZS
[2] https://bit.ly/3CMsllQ
[3] https://bit.ly/3CKUZ6I
Check out this video: