VICE President Leni Robredo said that classes could have opened last year in areas where there were no Covid19 cases.

“‘Yung nakalipas na isa’t kalahating taon, missed opportunity iyon. ‘Yung wala pa ‘yung Delta variant, sobrang daming LGUs all over the Philippines na walang cases,” Robredo said in her radio program.

She added that the Department of Education should have been more proactive and moved for the holding of physical classes in safe areas.

“Ang sa akin lang, kung mas proactive lang sana ang DepEd dito na ‘wag lang na dahil nagsabi si Presidente. Dapat ipakita nila na hindi naman puwede na one size fits all. Pero ‘pag sinabing resigned na lang tayo na sige ‘wag natin buksan, hindi natin iniisip ‘yung mga bata,” she said.

President Rodrigo Duterte rejected the proposal of DepEd to hold limited face-to-face classes saying it is too risky.

The DepEd earlier revealed that it had drafted guidelines for reopening classes but the plan has yet to be approved by the President.