Classes will resume as scheduled on Aug. 24 using a "blended" scheme that employs radio, television, the internet and modules, Education Sec. Leonor Briones said. Face-to-face learning will have to wait until 2021, she said, with a COVID-19 vaccine expected later this year at the earliest.
A dry run for the school opening was finished recently and the school year will be launched on Aug. 10, Briones said during a televised meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte. The public school system reached 92 percent enrollment, equivalent to 22.3 million students, she said. The enrollement rate is lower for private schools, at 31 percent.
"In spite of all the fears, enrollment is still going on," Briones said.
Duterte told the nation on the address aired Friday that a vaccine could be made available this year and he country could go "back to normal" by December. In his State of the Nation Address last Monday, he directed authorities to tap unused broadcast frequencies for distance learning.
