By Ronnel Kien Bermas 

PHOTO: Department of Education / Rappler

Awaiting to take the Department of Education’s (DepEd) helm, Vice President-elect Sara Duterte-Carpio is seeing the full implementation of face-to-face classes for the next school year (SY).

In a press briefing a day after her inauguration as the country’s 15th vice president, Duterte-Carpio revealed that the incoming administration has been “targeting” the full return to face-to-face classes for SY 2022-2023.

“We are targeting that,” the incoming DepEd secretary replied when asked if face-to-face classes will be held by August.

According to DepEd's proposed school calendar for SY 2022-2023, classes in public schools nationwide will begin on August 22 and end on July 7, 2023.

Asked about the schools that have returned to the traditional setup, Duterte-Carpio said: "I've not been briefed on the status of education nationwide so I haven't seen the data yet."

The vice president-elect also stated that she will be meeting with outgoing DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones on June 25 after having written discussions about their transition.

To note, a 2020 nationwide online survey by the Movement for Safe, Equitable, Quality and Relevant Education (SEQuRE) revealed that 70.9% of the teachers were uncertain if DepEd’s competencies are being achieved.

While in their 2021 poll, the group concluded that the majority of the students under the alternative learning setups learned less in contrast to the on-site classes.

Outgoing DepEd Secretary Briones has previously expected schools to hold 100% on-site classes for SY 2022-2023 after about 73% of public schools and 5.47% of private schools resumed in-person meetings this year.


Edited by Andreah Dianne M. Cartagena