Amid resumption of F2F classes

CAMARINES SUR Representative LRay Villafuerte has called on local government unit (LGU) executives to work closely with the Departments of Education (DepEd), of Health (DOH), and the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in putting up anti-COVID-19 vaccine centers in their respective localities, in support of Malacañang’s drive to ensure the safe return of students and their teachers to schools this coming school year.

“Alongside providing the necessary assistance to public and private schools in preparation for the start of face-to-face [F2F] and online learning modes on August 22, local executives should team up with the DepEd, DOH, and DILG in setting up in schools vax centers for primary and booster shots against the coronavirus ASAP, to better protect our students and their teachers this upcoming schoolyear against the current and future surges in COVID-19,” Villafuerte said.

Ahead of the resumption of classes, he said, “LGU officials could help accelerate the vaccine rollout, for the benefit, especially of schoolkids and teenagers who have yet to have their primary or booster shots against the coronavirus, by taking down the COVID-19 quarantine or isolation facilities they had put up in schools at the height of the pandemic in favor of installing vax sites in these educational institutions.”

“Such urgent action by our local executives across the country is the appropriate response from LGUs to the recent appeal by President Marcos Jr. no less for the public, particularly students, to complete their primary jabs or booster shots against COVID-19 so they would have better protection against the pandemic when classes reopen later this month,” said Villafuerte, who had been Camarines Sur governor for three consecutive terms and is now vice president for political affairs of the National Unity Party (NUP).

President Marcos Jr., at the same time, called on LGU officials to lead the rollout of the COVID-19 booster program in their respective localities so the government could inoculate more people.

In a YouTube vlog, President Marcos Jr. said the first task this school year is to ensure that everyone has had their primary or booster shots, “lalong-lalo na ang ating mga kabataan para siguradong handa ang pangangatawan nila sa pagbabalik eskwela.”

The President said he wants a 100% booster rate, as the government launched last July 26 the “LakasPinas” booster drive to accelerate the program’s implementation by putting up vaccination sites in public places like schools, transport terminals, markets, and even places of worship.

Villafuerte said that the Camarines Sur provincial capitol has already dismantled its COVID-19 quarantine centers in schools and transferred them either to district hospitals or to isolation facilities that had been built by the provincial government for this purpose.

The Camarines Sur lawmaker said he agreed with President Marcos Jr. that the return of F2F classes will help sustain and strengthen the country’s economic rebound from the pandemic, as it will further open up business activities, including more public transportation, more food outlets, and more shops or stores selling school supplies.

The President is correct, too – Villafuerte said that parents who used to stay home to monitor their children during their online classes will now be free to return to their work or look for jobs as their kids return to school.

Classes will start on August 22, consisting of a combination of F2F sessions and online teaching modes. The DepEd earlier announced that full face-to-face classes from Mondays to Fridays will be carried out in all elementary and high schools beginning this November.

At present, all adults and minors aged 12 to 17 years old are eligible for a first booster jab, while kids aged 5 to 11 years are eligible for the two-dose primary shots.

DOH Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Undersecretary Ma. Rosario Vergeire has said in a press briefing that the health department and the DepEd headed by Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio have been drawing up the guidelines for establishing COVID-19 vaccination centers in schools.

Vergeire said, “We were able to talk to the Vice President. She asked that we already discuss what will be the strategy for holding vaccination activities in schools when we open up. Her only request was for the classes not to be delayed or hampered. So what we will do is talk to local governments to fix the vaccination schedules of the different schools in the country.”

“We will be coordinating with DILG so that local government healthcare workers will be the ones to do the vaccination as well as organize them in schools,” Vergeire said.

She said the DOH will be “closely working with the country’s LGUs to ensure all school-aged children will have access to the additional doses donated by the US government.”

The United States (US) has reportedly donated, through the COVAX Facility, more than 33 million vaccine doses to the Philippines since the pandemic started in 2020—comprising vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen.

In preparation for the opening of the school year, DepEd spokesman Michael Poa earlier appealed to LGU officials to pull out the COVID-19 isolation facilities they had established in schools.

Poa noted in a press briefing that the agency has directed LGUs to remove the temporary quarantine facilities because schools are preparing for the return of face-to-face classes, saying that, “We are really trying to prepare all the schools kasi kulang na nga tayo ng classrooms. We are really appealing to the LGUs na itong mga schools na nagamit na isolation facilities noon na ngayon ay may natitira pa ring mga tents, pinapatanggal na po natin yung and they committed to do so.”

The DepEd is also speeding up efforts to address various concerns such as increasing the vaccination rates, especially among the students, Poa said.

Poa revealed that the DepEd has been coordinating with LGUs to remove COVID-19 quarantine facilities from schools before classes start. “We are trying to coordinate with the LGUs to make sure that we clear out these quarantine facilities so we can go back to school on Aug. 22,” he said.

According to the DepEd, more than 16 million have already enrolled for the school year 2022-2023, as of Aug. 5.

In its report, the kindergarten has the most number of enrolled learners with 1,060,138; followed by Elementary (Grades 1 to 6) with 7,376,586; Grades 7 to 10 (Junior High School) with 5,179,673 enrollees; and Grades 11 and 12 (Senior High School), with 2,412,855.

More enrollees are expected in the weeks ahead as the DepEd, which opened the enrollment for public schools on July 25, will continue accepting enrollees until classes begin on August 22.