THE SCHOOLS Division Office of Zambales is grateful for the support it received from local government units and members of the indigenous communities for the pilot run of face-to-face classes in 10 schools in the province.

The schools are the San Marcelino National High School Annex, Baliwet Elementary School, Banawen Elementary School, Belbel Elementary School, Burgos Elementary School, Maguisguis Elementary School, Moraza Elementary School, Nacolcol Integrated School, Owaog  Nebloc Elementary School and Palis Integrated School.

District Superintendent Romeo Alip said the provincial government, local government units and members of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples signed a memorandum of agreement to ensure the success of the in-person classes.

Under the agreement, the provincial government will provide free rapid antigen tests and RT-PCR for teachers every two weeks. It will also provide teachers with logistics, security and health support.

The provincial government, as well as the LGUs, also pledged to provide additional learning facilitators to ensure learning continuity in case teachers need to be quarantined or isolated.

Alip said that LGUs will provide food and supplies to teachers who opted to stay in school for the duration of the implementation.

The LGUs will also provide health-related supplies and some learning materials.

Meanwhile, SDO Zambales provided technical assistance to the school heads and teachers on class programming and scheduling. Face-to-face classes will happen in the morning while printed modular will happen in the afternoon.

The schools procured health-related materials using the downloaded support funds from DepEd and program support funds for Indigenous Peoples Education and other sources.

They installed wash areas and a designated area for triage. Markings and signages in the local dialect were also installed to ensure adherence to health protocols.