THE DEPARTMENT of Education on Monday said that the implementation of limited face-to-face classes will be divided into three strategic phases.

“We will start with the pilot implementation. Once it is successful, we will have the expanded phase and after the expanded phase we will be going with the new normal,” DepEd Planning Service Director Roger Masapol said.

The objectives of the pilot implementation, he said, are to deliver quality basic education in a safe learning environment; address the teaching and learning gaps encountered in distance learning modalities; and strengthen the school-community health and safety support system for all children.

For the selection of public schools, the DepEd will conduct several steps to ensure the safety of students.

“We will use a school readiness assessment and ask our field officials to administer. Once the school finished the administration of the safety assessment tool, we asked the region and the division to validate – meet the validated list of schools,” he explained.

“And then we subject these lists of schools into a risk classification that were co-developed by DepEd, World Health Organization and UNICEF. Then, we do the shortlisting,” he added.

Masapol said 638 public schools were recommended by DepEd regional directors after passing the eligibility criteria to conduct limited face-to-face classes.

For the selection of 20 private schools, he said regional directors will require schools to submit a letter of intent, an accomplished School Safety Assessment Tool, implementation plan, and contingency plan.

“RO evaluates the submitted proposal and the accomplished SSAT. Then, the SDO validates the results of SSAT. After this, the RO will identify 1 private school in the region and nominate it to the central office for pilot study included in the list of 20 private schools,” Masapol said.

“The Central office will subject the 20 nominated pilot schools into further analysis through a dashboard using DOH health data and DepEd education data to confirm inclusion in the list,” he added.

All private schools that passed the SSAT are considered “pilot schools in waiting for the expansion phase.”