DepEd: No reported COVID-19 cases yet among students, teachers since schools reopened

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Thursday said no students and teachers have reported to have contracted the coronavirus yet since the in-person classes resumed on August 22.

Despite this, DepEd spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said they will continue monitoring the COVID-19 situations in schools daily, and push through with the counseling sessions among unvaccinated learners and school staff and the roll out of mobile COVID-19 vaccination in schools.

“Sa ngayon po, after verifying with our field offices, wala pa po tayong reported na nagkaroon ng COVID from the start of the classes, pati na rin sa ating teaching and non-teaching staff,” Pao said at a press conference.

(Right now, after verifying with our field offices, we have not reported any cases of COVID-19 since the start of classes, even among the teaching and non-teaching staff.)

Before the schools reopened, Poa said only 19% of learners have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, based on the DepEd Learner Information System.

Currently, both students and teachers could participate in face-to-face classes despite their vaccination status.

Further, two weeks since classes started, Poa said that they still receive good feedbacks from the DepEd regional offices in situations in schools.

“Wala namang major or untoward incidents na nangyari sa mga nakaraang araw [No major or untoward incidents happened in the past days],” he added.

Extra-curricular activities

At the same time, Poa said the DepEd will release a memorandum order on which extra-curricular and co-curricular activities will be included in the School Year 2022-2023.

Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte earlier reminded teachers to focus on academics to make up for the learning losses due to the pandemic.

“The purpose is really kasi nagkaron na rin tayo ng learning gap sa ating two years na nasa pandemiya [because of the learning gap as result of the pandemic], so we really want our learners to focus on the academics,” Poa said.

He added that there will also be psychosocial support activities in place for students to focus on their mental health and well-being.

At least 29.4 million students have enrolled in both in public and private schools for the current school year as of August 25, Poa said. — RSJ, GMA News