COVID-19 measures in place

Zeny S. Caturla

THE Department of Education (DepEd) said it is taking all the precautions to ensure the health and safety of our personnel, especially the teachers, amid growing concerns on their health and safety.

According to the DepEd, measures to mitigate COVID-19 in schools and its offices are in place. In areas where there are still high cases of the virus, teachers are not allowed to go out.

In view of this, the DepEd has also issued the Required Health Standards which provides several measures for COVID-19 mitigation in schools and offices.

Under the Required Health Standards are the general health and safety protocols to increase physical and mental resilience, reduce transmission, reduce contact, and reduce duration of infection.

The standards also include testing protocols like early detection, referral process, testing and quarantine, contact tracing, and support protocols for COVID-19 positive learners, teachers, and personnel.

There are also support mechanisms in the field, such as the conduct of disinfection of learning materials prior to packaging and distribution.

Barangay councils, under partnership with the DepEd, will help in distributing and retrieving modules in their barangays.

Just recently, the agency has also issued regional memoranda on strengthened management and response to COVID-19 and the implementation of alternative work arrangements on all levels of governance.

Included in the DepEd’s contingency plan for COVID-19 pandemic is the inclusion of COVID-19 protocols and other health-related reminders in learners’ package kits.

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The author is Principal I at Siñura Elementary School