RESUMING face-to-face classes will not resolve learning problems, an official of the Department of Education said on Friday in response to criticisms on the continued implementation of distance learning.

DepEd Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan issued the statement after UNICEF warned against the dire repercussions of school shutdown.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said that “each passing day that classrooms remain dark, the devastation worsens.”

Malaluan, however, countered that reopening schools remains risky.

“Countries which reopened face-to-face classes did not do so in full scale, and also encountered problems. Resuming face-to-face classes will not resolve all the matters because there is a real danger that reopening of schools might start an outbreak,”  he said.

“This is not a simple task. UNICEF should also show the other side that those which resumed face-to-face classes are not in full scale, and there are even those going back to online learning in the United States due to Delta variant,” he added.

Malaluan said that DepEd and the Department of Health are working on the guidelines for safe physical classes.

President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to decide whether or not to allow face-to-face sessions.