THE DEPARTMENT of Education said School Year 2020-2021 has not been wasted amid the many challenges brought about by the pandemic.

Education Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan said the past school year, completed through distance learning, was indeed, very challenging.

Malaluan also extended his congratulations to parents, teachers and learners as the school year ended.

“Natapos natin despite the many challenges that we had to face, the short period of time that we had to shift into this form of learning. It is a year that was not wasted, as other might have wanted us to really just take a standstill for the last school year. So we congratulate our parents, learners, and teachers,” he said.

Malaluan said the agency is also looking into lessening dependence on printed modules, while adding there will also be a tighter quality assurance of modules.

“We had no choice but to combine learning resources that have gone through the complete quality assurance process and allow also that to be complemented by the learning resources developed at the field unit,” Malaluan added.

Distance learning will still be implemented for the next school year as President Rodrigo Duterte rejected the DepEd’s proposal to open face-to-face classes.