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Education must continue despite challenges, says DepEd chief

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Arra Perez, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Education Secretary Leonor Briones. ABS-CBN News/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/news/02/02/20160901-leonor-briones-nppa.jpg"/><figcaption>Education Secretary Leonor Briones. <em>ABS-CBN News/File</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — Education must continue despite unexpected obstacles, Secretary Leonor Briones said Wednesday as she reflected on 2021 as it drew to a close.</p><p>At the sidelines of an engagement in Pasig City, Briones admitted that 2021 was a challenging year for the Department of Education (DepEd).</p><p>&quot;We were expected to make plans but we can&#x27;t even predict the onset of new variants,&quot; she said, referring to the COVID-19 variants that pushed back DepEd&#x27;s plans to resume in-person classes.</p><p>The DepEd was supposed to restart in-person classes through a pilot phase earlier this year but President Rodrigo Duterte cancelled this over the emergence of the infectious alpha variant.</p><p>In-person classes were banned in March 2020 due to COVID-19, with schools shifting to remote learning.</p><p>The pilot phase of the return to on-site classes, which had nearly 300 participating schools, finally began in mid-November and concluded last Dec. 17.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/15/21/philippines-starts-pilot-run-of-face-to-face-classes">Philippines starts pilot run of face-to-face classes amid COVID pandemic</a></li></ul><p>&quot;It was very challenging, but it&#x27;s not for us to complain because our country has survived so many challenges, so many crisis... Education must continue. Education must never stop,&quot; she said.</p><p>Briones said teachers must prepare students to adapt to change.</p><p>&quot;The capacity, the strength, the courage, the fearlessness to accept that change is happening. And you can respond by face-to-face [classes], you can respond by ICT (information and communications technologies), you can respond by other ways of communication,&quot; she said.</p><p>Briones said she hoped more children would return to physical classes as the DepEd prepared to expand in-person instruction early next year.</p><p>But she assured that the agency prioritizes the health and safety of students and school personnel.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/20/21/deped-readies-for-progressive-expansion-of-physical-classes">DepEd prepares for &#x27;progressive expansion&#x27; of face-to-face classes in January</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/10/21/deped-no-covid-cases-in-pilot-face-to-face-classes">DepEd: No COVID cases in pilot in-person classes in 3 weeks</a></li></ul><p>The DepEd is preparing its report and recommendation on the expansion of in-person classes, which will be submitted to President Duterte for his comments.</p><p>Briones said she was &quot;optimistic&quot; that Duterte would approve the expansion phase, the second in the DepEd&#x27;s three-part plan to reopen schools as the country continued to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1852800" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Education must continue despite unexpected obstacles, Secretary Leonor Briones said Wednesday as she reflected on the year that is nearing its end.

Education must continue despite challenges, says DepEd chief

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Education must continue despite challenges, says DepEd chief

Arra Perez,

ABS-CBN News

Published Dec 22, 2021 03:33 PM PHT

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Updated Dec 23, 2021 02:04 PM PHT

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education

Department of Education

DepEd

Leonor Briones

2021

face-to-face classes

pilot face-to-face classes

School Year 2021-2022

distance learning

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