January 19, 2022 – The Department of Education (DepEd) is elated that the Office of the President expressed its strong support and trust in the expansion of the limited face-to-face classes.

We believe this high confidence from President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and our stakeholders was due to the successful pilot implementation of face-to-face classes in 287 public and private schools nationwide from November 15 to December 20, 2021.

There was no recorded confirmed COVID-19 case among the 15,683 learners who participated in the pilot implementation of limited face-to-face classes.

Based on the evaluation conducted by the Department, the pilot implementation led to satisfactory results and positive feedback from our learners, teachers, and parents. We observed a high level of attendance and performance among learner participants. Our stakeholders felt safe against the virus throughout the implementation and were highly satisfied with the implementation of health and safety protocols and teaching and learning improvements brought by the face-to-face classes.

The implementation also inculcated a culture of shared responsibility among the national government, parents and learners, the Local Government Units (LGUs), teachers, school officials and staff, and other stakeholders in ensuring everyone’s safety and welfare.

We thank the Department of Health (DOH) and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) for assisting us in developing a responsive operational guideline on face-to-face learning delivery.

We also thank the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) for encouraging LGUs to support the pilot implementation.

Finally, we are also grateful to all the DepEd personnel, external partners, and parents of our learners for their cooperation to make this initial pilot of physical classes a successful one.

Moving forward, we will continue our efforts in support of the vaccination drive of the national government since immunization is still a key element in boosting the confidence of community members for the return of face-to-face classes.

Equipped with valuable lessons from the pilot phase, we call on our stakeholders to continue our Bayanihan as we look to ensure that more learners and teachers can experience a safe return to in-person learning.

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