THE COORDINATING Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines has renewed its call to vaccinate students after President Rodrigo Duterte approved the conduct of limited in-person classes.

COCOPEA Chairman Anthony Tamayo said students and school personnel should be fully vaccinated before attending face-to-face classes.

“We would like to point out that we can expect success of this exercise when all the teaching and non-teaching staff are vaccinated, and those students who are willing to go back to school are vaccinated, too. We renew our call to prioritize the vaccination of teachers and students,” Tamayo said.

The Department of Education earlier said that teachers can join the face-to-face classes whether they are vaccinated or not.

The group expressed hopes that guidelines will be issued to address the concerns of the parents and students.

“We hope these guidelines will hopefully address concerns of some of our members which include the parents’ concerns on the safety of their children, operational concerns of schools in terms of retrofitting facilities and physical requirements, government support in ensuring the safety of students and their parents going to and from schools, and the support of local governments,” Tamayo said.

He added that school officials are ready to hold a dialogue with government officials to address these issues.