RA 11480, a law empowering the President to reschedule the reopening of schools during a state of emergency.
Law empowering the President to reschedule school reopening
The RA 11480 has finally been signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte, in preparation for the reopening of classes on August 24. The new law will be amending the existing guidelines on the reopening of schools in the country, as stated in RA 7797.
In the previous law governing the opening of classes in the Philippines under RA 7797, schools are required to resume classes as early as the first Monday of June and as late as the last day of August.
Within the provisions of RA 11480, the law empowering the President to make changes on the reopening of schools will only take effect during a state of emergency. Nonetheless, the law doesn’t mandate anything from educational institutions.
The President was clear in his mandate that no face-to-face classes will be allowed as long as no vaccine for COVID-19 is readily available. This is openly supported by the Department of Education, which is promoting the blended learning system for the School Year 2020-2021.
COVID cases in the Philippines
The Philippines recorded a total of 70,764 COVID-19 cases as of July 21st, 45,646 of which are active cases.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the country is by far increasing and yet to halt. On the number of daily deaths, the numbers dwindled down from early April to late May. Unfortunately, the death rate started to rise from early June up to date.
Local governments are being reprimanded for the lack of accountability in addressing COVID-19 related concerns in their respective localities.
