DepEd to extend distance learning up to next school year

Congressman Mike Defensor wants the Department of Education to extend distance learning until the summer of 2022.

“There is a high probability that we won’t have extensive face-to-face classes in the school year 2021-2022, considering that vaccine clinical trials abroad on younger children are just getting started,” Defensor said.

President Duterte has firmly said he will not allow face-to-face classes until a vaccine becomes available.

“Vaccine developers overseas are still trying to assess the safety of their shots on three age groups of children. They are also trying to ascertain the appropriate dosage for each age group,” Defensor explained.

“While some clinical trials on children aged 12 to 15 years old are underway, trials on those aged 5 to 11 years old are just kicking off. Trials on children under 5 years old will be the last to be carried out,” he added.

Moreover, Defensor encouraged schools to improve their delivery of distance learning to avoid dropouts of students.

Defensor added that DepEd should determine students who have dropped out and encourage them to enroll again next school year.

According to Defensor, about 23 million students are enrolled nationwide for School Year 2020-2021. This is 4.7 million or 17% lower than the 27.7 million enrolled in S.Y. 2019-2020.