The Department of Health (DOH) has announced that all public and private schools nationwide must transition to five days of face-to-face classes starting November 2, as ordered by Education Secretary and Vice President Sara Duterte.
This was contained in Department of Education (DepEd) Order 34, s. 2022, containing the calendar of activities for the School Year 2022 to 2023, which was made public on Tuesday, July 12.
“Starting November 2, 2022, all public and private schools shall have transitioned to five days in-person classes. After the said date, no school shall be allowed to implement purely distance learning or blended learning except for those that are implementing Alternative Modes,” the DepEd order read.
In the same order, DepEd also announced that the School Year 2022-2023 will begin on Monday, August 22, and end on July 7, 2023.
There will be a total of 203 school days, limited only to academics and related co-curricular activities, according to DepEd, noting that the conduct of extra-curricular activities is strictly prohibited.
The first quarter is set from August 22, 2022 to November 5, 2022; the second quarter is from November 7, 2022 to February 3, 2023; the third quarter is from February to April 28, 2023, and the fourth quarter from May 2 to July 7, 2023.
Slowly transition
According to the department, they will give schools “ample time to slowly transition” into the five-day in-person classes by implementing any of the following options:
- Five days of face-to-face classes
- Blended learning: Three days of in-person classes and 2 days of distance learning, or 4 days of in-person classes and 1 day of distance learning
- Full distance learning
These options will only be implemented by schools until October 21, 2022, DepEd added.
Mandatory
In a press briefing, Education Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said that the order is "mandatory" and all "enrolled students abide."
“We’re trying to do some educational learning recovery because in the past two years, because of the COVID-19, the face-to-face classes are something we were not able to do,” he said.
“So this is the right time for us to undertake it,” Densing added.
