WITH Covid19 cases surging, the Department of Education will put on hold its plan to expand face-to-face classes until the Department of Health gives the green light,  Education Secretary Leonor Briones said Wednesday.

“Kakatanggap lang namin ng advice galing sa Department of Health na kung puwede hintayin natin hanggang matapos iyong assessment period sa January 15,” she said.

The Education department earlier planned to allow more schools to hold in-person classes. The threat of Omicron temporarily derailed this plan.

Briones said the DepEd was also finalizing its report on the pilot phase of in-person classes, which will be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte.

Education Assistant Secretary Malcolm Garma said that physical classes are not allowed in areas under Alert Level 3.

Local officials in Alert Levels 1 and 2 can choose to defer the conduct of in-person classes, he said.

“Because of the omicron, there might be some local government units of the areas where our pilot classes are implementing, baka i-defer din muna nila,” Garma said.

Briones said the DepEd was prepared to implement the expansion phase, depending on the risk assessment of areas. Similarly, the agency is ready to shift to remote learning if infections continue to rise.