ILOILO City – Thirteen schools here have been validated for the progressive expansion of limited face-to-face classes. They were close to 100 percent compliant with the School Safety Assessment Tool (SSAT) of the Department of Education (DepEd).
The SSAT, with four main areas — namely managing school operations, teaching and learning, well-being and protection, and home-school coordination – is a tool to assess the readiness of schools for the face-to-face learning modality.
Iloilo City Schools Division superintendent Dr. Ma. Luz de los Reyes said eight public schools and five private schools have been validated.
“They were found to be 97 percent compliant,” de los Reyes said.
Areas for improvement included the provision of signage, warning signs, comfort rooms, hand-washing facilities, and classrooms.
Reyes said these schools can already start with their limited face-to-face classes once they have the local government unit’s concurrence and approval from the regional director of DepEd.
Five private schools were also validated with SSAT compliance rate ranging from 90 to 99 percent.
De los Reyes said a lot of schools are interested to open in-person classes but could not do it immediately because they have to comply with the requisites and secure the approval of the regional director.
Iloilo City has 139 private schools and 66 public schools.
The school could not open if there is an existing case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in their barangay.
They also need to secure clearance from the local government unit and the Department of Health (DOH).
“No matter how supportive the mayor is, if the assessment showed that they are not ready, they will just get disqualified,” said Reyes. (PNA/PN)
