Public elementary and high schools in this capital city of Negros Oriental are fully implementing in-person classes with the Department of Education (DepEd) here still requiring face masks, a key official said Friday.

“All 25 public schools in Dumaguete are already implementing the face-to-face classes which will be from Monday to Friday but we encourage the wearing of face masks because not all learners have been vaccinated against Covid-19,” Dr. Cyrus Gregorio Elejorde, city division of schools superintendent, said.

Teachers give free face masks to the students and parents to ensure that they are worn while on campus and in classrooms, he said.

Elejorde said so far, there have been no significant or major problems since the start of the full implementation of the face-to-face classes on Wednesday as they had months to prepare for this.

In fact, some schools with less enrolment started full face-to-face classes a month earlier in order to identify potential problems.

At least two national high schools in the outskirts barangays of Junob and Camanjac are adopting the “two-shift policy” due to a large number of enrolled students that could not be accommodated in the classroom at the same time, he said.

A regular class size is limited to 30 per classroom but going beyond that, it has to be divided into two, he added.

For the two-shift scheme, the first shift is from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. and the second is from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m, Elejorde said.

Meanwhile, of the 30 private schools in this capital city, 24 are also already implementing full face-to-face classes while the other six are still on blended learning, he added. (PNA)