AT LEAST 100 schools in Western Visayas have started holding limited face-to-face classes, the Department of Education said on Tuesday.

Hernani Escullar Jr., DepEd-Region 6 information officer, said 81 out of the 210 schools identified for the progressive phase of limited physical classes resumed face-to-face lessons.

These schools are in addition to the 19 that joined the pilot run of in-person classes last year.

“We have not monitored problems in schools because all their protocols, coordination, and contingency measures are in place,” he said.

Of the 210 schools identified for the progressive expansion, the official said 35 are considered nominated because they passed the School Safety Assessment Tool.

However, these learning institutions have yet to get the approval of their local government units.

Escullar said that 94 schools are also eligible to start anytime.

“Our regional validating team is now busy because every week many schools are added to our progressive expansion phase. They conduct validation to ensure that we can add more schools to the progressive expansion,” he said.