DAVAO CITY – The Department of Education (DepEd) here called on
students anew to get vaccinated to protect themselves from the
Covid-19 as the number of enrollees appear to approximate the number
during the pre-pandemic period.
This means that the schools were likely to become the epicenter of
another surge if more students and their parents remain adamant to
medical protection and public health protocols against Covid-19.
Although the freedom of choice of the parents as well as the youth was
a Constitutional right which the department cannot overturn, Jenelito
Atillo, DepEd regional spokesman, said they would still encourage the
vaccination of all students.
“We fully support the government’s effort to vaccinate the children.
The only problem as far as DepEd is concerned, is that vaccination is
not mandatory because there is this Constitutional guarantee on the
freedom of choice,” Atillo said.
He said religion and health concerns were among the many reasons why
parents refused to have their children vaccinated.
Still, the department continues to encourage parents to have their
children inoculated, Atillo said.
Atillo said almost a million students in the Davao Region have already
enrolled for school year 2022-2023, which would start on August 22.
As of August 11, a total of 951,312 students have already enrolled.
The figure is 68 percent of last year’s 1,395,893 enrollees, with over
a week left for enrollment.
Of this number, 349,557 are from Davao City.
As of July, only 284,696 students in the region had been vaccinated.
Of these, 45,977 are elementary school pupils, 167,125 are in junior
high school, 62,771 are senior high students, and 8,823 are enrolled
in the Alternative Learning System.
Atillo said that all schools would conduct hybrid modality of learning
for the first months of the school year, and would shift to full
face-to-face learning scheme beginning November 2.
He said the return to full face-to-face classes is “going to be a
resurrection of the traditional conduct of classes in the country.”
Atillo said the DepEd has already prepared contingency plans in order
to respond to any health risks and incidence such as the possibility
of another surge of Covid-19 cases.
Image credits: CNN Philippines