The Department of Education-Division of Bacolod City (DepEd-Bacolod) endorsed Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri’s proposal to end the school year early due to the ongoing threat from the coronavirus disease, or Covid-19. DepEd-Bacolod Schools Superintendent Gladys Sales said the senator’s proposal requires “more prudent action” from DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones.
The DepEd-Bacolod official said they are still awaiting updates from the central office and, in the meantime, have implemented precautionary measures to protect the students from Covid-19 transmission.
“We’re almost done with our classes and [an] early closing of school would really ensure [the] safety of our students and their respective families,” she said.
Sales added, moves to end the school year early will also allow their office and local government units to clean, sanitize, and disinfect the schools.
Earlier, Zubiri called for an early end to the 2019-2020 academic year due to concerns over the localized spread of Covid-19. He said the government cannot afford a slow reactive response and urged for a more proactive approach.
“There are only a few days left until the summer break so we should ask the DepEd to just order the early break,” he said, noting, other countries have taken similar measures.
Zubiri also called for stricter measures and protocols in handling the virus.
“We don’t want to create panic amongst our people but that was the initial complacency [in] countries like Iran, South Korea, and Italy,” he explained. “Now, they have thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths.”
As of yesterday afternoon, the Department of Health recorded 33 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country./DGB, WDJ