DepEd 7: Only schools lacking rooms to have shifting class schedules
THE Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd 7) has clarified that only selected schools in the region have implemented a shifting schedule of face-to-face classes for the School Year (SY) 2022-2023.
DepEd 7 Director Salustiano Jimenez told SunStar Cebu that this is being done to address the lack of classrooms in some schools in the region.
Jimenez issued the clarification following the complaints of some parents that their children enrolled in public elementary schools would have to attend classes as early as 6 a.m.
“Only those schools with a very big population and with a shortage of classrooms (will have shifting schedules),” Jimenez said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
The regional director said early classes or shifting schedules had long been a strategy of the Department to address the shortage of classrooms even before the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
“We’ve always had this strategy especially in times of calamities and classrooms get destroyed...we resort to emergency classes,” said Jimenez.
While Jimenez has not received any official complaint from parents concerning the schedule of classes through the 20 school division superintendents in Central Visayas, he assured that schools that have enough classrooms would start their classes at 8 o’clock in the morning.
Central Visayas has 3,775 public schools and 892 private schools are operating this school year.
As of Thursday, Aug. 25, about 68 percent or 2,567 public schools had fully implemented face-to-face classes in Central Visayas.
While less than 50 private schools have so far started the full implementation of face-toface classes in the region.
The opening of classes last Aug. 22 was generally smooth and peaceful, according to the DepEd 7.
The number of enrollees in Central Visayas’ had reached more than 1.8 million, including almost 200,000 students enrolled in private schools as of Friday, Aug. 19.
DepEd 7 has a target of two million enrollees for SY 2022-2023.
Jimenez on Aug. 21 said they will still accept late enrollees, especially those with valid reasons, such as circumstances that prompted the learners to transfer to another school.
He, however, clarified that the number of days that learners missed school should not exceed 20 percent of the total number of school days.