DepEd: Group Urge Agency To Clarify Closure of 676 Private Schools

Group Urge DepEd To Clarify Closure of 676 Private Schools This Year

DEPED – A group urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to clarify the source of its update that 676 schools will not operate this year.

The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has shattered the economy of the Philippines. Government officials admitted that the funds are near depletion.

Some parents, teachers, and groups asked the government to delay the classes but the Department of Education (DepEd) said they prepared a different type of teaching method. They also moved the opening of classes to October 5 to allow teachers and parents to prepare for distance learning.

Online-class-Senators — Photo Source: Voice of America

A petition via Change.org posted by a user with the handle name “The Ruins” called for suspending classes this year. The user claimed that “academic freeze” is vital in this time wherein there is a pandemic.”

In a previous article, DepEd explained why they dismissed the call for an academic freeze. An official said the suspension of classes amid pandemic was a “shortsighted” solution.

Public-School-enrollment — Photo Source: aawsat.com

Based on a report from ABS-CBN News, DepEd on Wednesday said over 700 private schools nationwide have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On Thursday, September, 10, a group said the department should provide more details and clarify the source of its report.

The managing director of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Association (COCOPEA), Joseph Noel Estrada, said DepEd should clarify this report and name these schools.

“It is the right of the public to know and it also gives them (DepEd) the responsibility to be precise in the information that they list… kasi kung mag-release lang tayo nang ganyan, it will create a scare or speculations. Baka naman hindi lahat iyan ay siguradong magsasara,” he said.

According to the report, Federation of Associations of Private School Administrators (FAPSA) president Eleazardo Kasilag said the agency may have gotten the data from its survey for schools. He did not agree with Joseph Noel Estrada’s call for DepEd to name the schools that will not open this year.

He reasoned, “Iyong mga eskuwelahan, we survive also on impression. Baka ‘pag nalaman ng aming mga parents, estudyante iyong ganoon, ang impression d’yan e baka hindi masyadong stable… Baka makababa ng enrollment.”

Estrada said the schools that will not operate this year due to the pandemic need to re-apply for permits but they should not be penalized because of that.