BEGINNING November 2, all public and private schools must hold five days of face-to-face classes, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio said on Tuesday.

In DepEd Order 34 s. 2022, Duterte said that after November 2, no school shall be allowed to implement purely distance learning or blended learning except for those that are implementing alternative modes.

She noted that blended learning will be implemented until October 31, 2022.

“This DO shall apply regardless of the Covid19 alert level imposed by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases or the Department of Health in areas where schools are located,” Duterte said.

Education Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said that the order is “mandatory and that all enrolled students should abide.”

The DepEd earlier said that face-to-face classes will push through in the next school year even if the alert status in some places will be raised to Alert Level 2.

As of May, the department said that at least 73 percent of public schools have resumed physical classes.