Free school supplies and complete uniforms greeted public school students of Taguig City on Monday, the start of Academic Year 2021-2022 and the second straight year under the blended learning setup.

The city government’s New Normal Education Package contains a backpack, uniform, raincoat, modules, supplies, and emergency kit.

In an interview, Dr. George Tizon, Taguig City Education Office chief, said 134,415 students will receive the package.

Taguig’s 5,000 public school teachers will also get coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) kits and personal protective equipment to keep them safe while doing their tasks.

“Although we are now having our distance learning, our teachers are the ones responsible for the distribution of modules and we would like to make sure that they are well protected,” Tizon said.

The Department of Education has approved Taguig as one of the pilot cities in Metro Manila that can conduct face-to-face classes once it is allowed in the National Capital Region.

The city is monitoring 1,569 active Covid-19 infections as of September 12 and has already administered at least 1.1 million vaccine doses as of September 12.

Around 95 percent of the city’s public school students are under the Hybrid Modular Distance Learning while the other five percent employ the Dynamic E-Learning program.

Educators and module writers from foreign and international schools created the kits for hybrid learning while online students will use the Taguig Learning Management System that will serve as the online portal for academic performance, evaluation results, and assignments.

The city is also training its educators to acquire new and advanced multimedia and content creation skills through the Taguig Online Resources and Community Hub (TORCH) Training for Teachers program. (PNA)