TRANSITION PERIOD. Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte joins other cabinet executives in the post-SONA economic briefing on Tuesday (July 26, 2022). She assured the public that learners and schools will be given a transition period before the in-person learning setup for the upcoming school year. (PNA photo: Avito Dalan) MANILA - Learners must be provided with mental wellness support to help them cope with the post-pandemic transition to in-person learning, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte said Tuesday. During a post-State of the Nation Address (SONA) forum, Duterte said the Department of Education (DepEd) has advised its regional offices to make this service available for learners. "We instructed our regional offices to coordinate with their local mental health associations, in their psychiatric societies to come up with mental wellness support for our learners who for the past two years, only knew of the online classroom, and now they are