Schools in Bohol and the rest of the country will have until November 2 to fully revert to face-to-face classes for five days a week.

This is in line with the directive issued by Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases across the country.

According to Bohol Schools Division Superintendent Bianito Dagatan, schools will still have the option to hold full in-person, blended or distance learning when classes resume on August 22.

“Naa pay option sila na mag full face-to-face or blended lang gihapon depende sa ilang kapasidad,” said Dagatan.

Full in-person classes entail five days of face-to-face classes while blended learning requires three days of in-person classes and two days of distance learning, or four days of in-person classes and one day of distance learning.

So far, the Department of Education in Bohol has yet to determine the number of schools in the province which have committed to conduct full face-to-face classes starting on August 22 or before the November 2 deadline.

However, Dagatan noted that even prior to Duterte’s issuance of the directive, all public schools in Bohol requested for safety seals during the previous school year, which means they were planning to conduct either full in-person or blended learning.

“Sa pagkakaron, based sa bag-ong lagda, we cannot force all our schools na Monday to Friday gyud mag face-to-face sila,” said Dagatan.

Two years into the pandemic, the Philippines is one of the few remaining countries in the world that have yet to fully resume face-to-face classes.

However, efforts to join the rest of the global community in conducting in person classes could be hampered by another surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide.

In Bohol, the number of active cases of the disease also surged to 50 as of Thursday morning after consistently being at single digits for several months. (AD)