A private school in Davao City has started implementing face-to-face (F2F) classes on Monday and other private schools could not wait to follow.
Faith International Academy of Davao City, Inc. started the implementation of face-to-face classes on November 29, 2021.
So far, Faith International Academy is the only private school in Davao City that has been granted by the Department of Education (DepEd) and approved by the Department of Health (DOH) to pilot F2F in the Davao Region.
The pilot F2F was participated by 10 Kindergarten students but only nine were physically present in the classroom as one student is in Korea and will be attending the class online.
School head Alastair Walker told members of local media that the F2F will be conducted on a regular schedule of classes and will run until the pilot program ends.
Walker said the school has requested DepEd 11 to pilot the F2F. He said the school complied 15 pages of requirements for them to be upgraded for F2F.
“No one is taking any chances. Some of the requirements changed and situations changed. We are very thankful for the help of DepEd,” he said.
Deped 11 spokesperson Jenielito Atillo said the school has complied with all the requirements that include securing consent from the parents and consent from the office of the Barangay Captain.
Atillo said the facilities of the school are also more than ready for implementation.
“They (Faith) secured shared responsibilities because this is not only the responsibility of the school but the responsibility of all concerned,” he said.
At the school’s gate, the students underwent body temperature checking, washed their hands with soap and water, and stepped on a foot bath before they entered their classroom.
Atillo said Deped 11 will be providing a checklist for the school to be followed.
“We will do conduct constant visits, double-checking, and would like to ensure that these things are followed,” he said.
Meanwhile, other private schools in Davao City expressed intention to conduct F2F classes.
“Walker said there are schools who already communicated with them. They want to have a benchmark with this school because they wanted to know how the school has gotten the approval. To us the department is very good news for all of us because the intent is to expand the implementation of the pilot modality which is face to face,” Atillo said.
Atillo is hopeful that the five schools in Davao City recommended for the possible F2F in the city namely Dalagdag National High School, G. Tajo National High School, Saloy National High School, Mabuhay Elementary School now Victor Bernal Integrated School with Kindergarten in Barangay Mabuhay, and Gumitan Elementary School can start implementing the F2F classes.
