The President of Philippine, Rodrigo Duterte has announced that all schools in the country will remain closed until a vaccine for coronavirus is ready.
Duterte, speaking during a late-night television address on Monday, said sending children to school without a vaccine ‘spells disaster’.
According to him, it is useless to be talking about reopening schools at such a time.
“I will not allow the opening of classes where students will be near each other.
“Unless I am sure that they are really safe, it’s useless to be talking about the opening of classes,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education had set the opening of the school year for Aug. 24 due to the COVID-19 outbreak, three months after its traditional start in June.
But the department stressed that “school opening will not necessarily mean traditional face-to-face learning in (the) classroom.”
“The physical opening of schools will depend on the risk severity grading or classification of a locality,” it added when it announced the new school calendar.
The Philippines has recorded 14,319 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 873 deaths, according to the Department of Health.
