BY OLIVER T. BACCAY, PIA
TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (August 10)—The Department of Education (DepEd) in Region 2 has advised parents and guardians to establish a conducive learning environment for their children in their homes while waiting for the official resumption of classes.
Dr. Estela Cariño, DepEd-Region 2 director, said all schools and teachers in the Cagayan Valley region have already signified their readiness in the re-opening of classes on August 24 with the implementation of the different learning modalities.
“We will resume with the classes but there will be no face-to-face yet so learners will just be at home. However, we must ensure also that the children have an area in their houses that are conducive to learning,” Cariño said.
She said the DepEd will give an orientation to parents and other stakeholders on the implementation of the new normal teaching modalities with parents and the community playing big roles in ensuring that no children will be left behind.
All schools’ division in Region 2 have already laid their mechanisms in reaching out to the students, from the delivery of the modules, distribution and collection of activity materials and monitoring of the situations of the students, Cariño said.
She also said majority of the schools in the region have chosen to adopt the self-learning module or printed materials, some opted the radio-based instruction while only a few preferred the online system.
“Because of poor internet connectivity in majority of our schools, especially those in the far-flung areas, the islands and coastal communities, they did not choose online. They are now preparing the printed modules for their students,” Cariño said.
She said only Tuguegarao City Science High School, Santiago City National High School, one in Nueva Vizcaya and another in Aurora, Isabela opted to adopt the online learning.
Cariño said printing of the learning modules is still on-going but she assured that the materials will be available before the start of classes.
On her part,
Rhoda Razon, DepEd-Region 2 assistant director, said they have already allotted some budget for the printing of the modules while there are also local officials who donated some funds to augment the budgetary requirement for the modules of their respective constituents.
“We are very much thankful to our local officials from the provinces down to the barangays because they contributed a lot not only financially but also in helping our teachers in the ground,” Razon said.
DepEd officials said teachers should no longer solicit bond papers from their stakeholders as there are already funds downloaded to their respective divisions.
“If they need more, they can utilize their Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses,” Razon added.