Revising the School Safety Assessment Tool

Ma. Genarica Y. Dizon

The School Safety Assessment Tool (SSAT) has been revised by the Department of Education to mobilize and prepare schools for the safe, effective and efficient conduct of the progressive expansion of face to face learning.

The Department says that it ensures that the health, safety, and well-being of learners, teachers, and personnel remain as the utmost priority.

The revised SSAT will help the Department mobilize the progressive expansion of face to face classes in areas under Alert 1 and 2, the agency said.

The School Safety Assessment Tool was updated based on the monitoring and evaluation results of the pilot implementation and in consideration of the schools’ present conditions relevant to safe reopening, officials said.

The revised SSAT focuses on four main areas: (a) Managing School Operations, (b) Focusing on Teaching and Learning, (c) Well-being and Protection, and (d) School-Community Coordination. These will be used to assess the readiness of the schools to participate in the progressive expansion of face-to-face classes.

Under Managing School Operations, schools need to receive support from community stakeholders, emphasizing the shared responsibility framework. They must conduct simulation activities among school personnel regarding managing the conduct of face-to-face classes, and the school must ensure that learners who will participate in the expansion must submit parent’s consent.

For Focusing on Teaching and Learning, the main indicator to guarantee the school’s readiness is securing a sufficient supply of learning resources needed in the expansion and design class programs that cater to both learners in face-to-face class arrangement and distance learning education.

Meanwhile, participating schools must develop strategies to prevent COVID-19 transmission among stakeholders and maintain the provision of basic mental health services and psychosocial support to ensure their wellbeing and protection.

In addition, a school must develop an implementation plan for coordination with the local government to ensure that health and safety protocols have been observed correctly and for the implementation of school-based immunization, among others.

Officials said the SSAT will not be the final determinant if a school will participate in the progressive expansion. It is a way to prepare schools for the eventual reopening and to inform them of the required indicators and standards that they need to meet to ensure the safety of learners and school personnel.

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The author is an Assistant Registrar at San Miguel Academy, Masantol, Pampanga