Students return to campus after 2 years lost in pandemic; new protocols placed

By CHRIS DOMINIC LAGUILLES “At

AFTER MORE THAN two years of hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions, students are now back to school grounds for face-to-face classes since early November last year.

This was after the education department greenlit the resumption of the five-day per week in-person classes nationwide in an order.

According to the school principal, Cristina B. Relleve, she has instructed all teaching and non-teaching personnel to prepare for the implementation of full face-to-face classes and ensured that the standard health precautions mandated by the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) and the Department of Health were followed.

the very start, we had to fill out the survey form provided by the Schools Division Office team to ensure that we follow the IATF protocols and to validate the learning environment and readiness of the school for the upcoming school year. We provided everything: the hand wash facility, the help kits, and the signages, which were the requirements before the start of the face-to-face classes,” Relleve stated.

With the start of the face-to-face classes, students were provided with health checklist slips and were required to check their temperature, disinfect with alcohol and wear safety masks upon entrance into the school premises.

According to Lizette Baguindo, a faculty, the preparations were aimed to secure a conducive learning environment and qualities of the facilities to be used, eliminating all unnecessa- ry things in the campus.

On the other hand, out of 611 students, 14 students are vaccinated with the first dose only, 357 students are vaccinated with the second dose, 207 students are vaccinated with the first booster, 4 students are vaccinated with the second booster, and 29 students are still unvaccinated.

Rico Padilla, the school head coordinator, said that the City Health Office decided that every school should have a vaccination drive so that the vaccination facilities here in Ligao are not filled.

”If the vaccination drive isn’t conducted in every school, the vaccination areas here in Ligao will be really full, especially in the city gymnasium”, he said.

According to Padilla, it is not required that all students be vaccinated, but the target is to have 100 percent of the students be vaccinat- ed because vaccination lessens the risk of coronavirus infection.

”We see the result, not only in the schools or in the barangays, but even in the nation, after the vaccination started: the cases of COVID-19 have lessened, so with the help of the city government of Ligao and the division office of the Ligao City Division, the schools have united to have a vaccination drive because of the results that show that the cases have lessened,” he said.

Sophia Lladones said that she hasn’t done much to prepare herself, though she shared that the lag from the pandemic has brought anxiety between people.

With enough precautions taken, the school continued to push through with the in-person classes for five days , and guaranteed to make further improvements necessary in ensuring the students’ safety.

However with the raising heat felt in Bicol, the school opted to have a blended learning this May 2023.

The newly implemented system was made of three days in-person classes with a two-day distance learning, and allowing the students to wear their PE uniform. ■