CHED: Resumption of in-person classes depends on necessity of physical training, curriculum flexibility

Published October 13, 2021 03:19 PM By LLANESCA T. PANTI,GMA News

The resumption of face-to-face classes in tertiary education will depend on the necessity of physical classes to acquire skills and curriculum flexibility, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairperson Prospero De Vera III said Wednesday.

De Vera made the statement during the COVID-19 vaccination of 800 students at the Mabalacat City College in Pampanga.
 

"We will go by degree programs, not geographically or level of quarantine classifications so there will be a uniformity in implementing the resumption of in-person classes. The priority will be those students who need hands-on experience [to acquire skills]. That is non-negotiable," De Vera said.

"These are the students who will not be able to graduate, take licensure exams, won't be able to have the skills to become good professionals without physical classes. That is why medicine and allied health and sciences courses will be the first,” he added.

“You cannot imagine a medical degree holder without clinical internship experience because even if that person passes the medical board exam, baka makapatay (he or she could kill someone) given that medical professionals deal with human lives.”

Next in line are degree programs with flexible curriculum or those that have already determined which subjects can be done online, offline and in-person.

"If you have a flexible program in place, then students of these programs will be vaccinated earlier because it means that they are ready once the government decides to gradually resume face-to-face classes," the CHED chief said.

Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the CHED’s request for the expansion of limited face-to-face classes to other degree programs that require hands-on experience in higher education institutions (HEIs) under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

These include engineering and technology programs; hospitality/ hotel and restaurant management; tourism/travel management; marine engineering; and marine transportation.

"You cannot deliver a baby online, and you cannot navigate a ship without physical training. As for those taking engineering… in-person training is a must to ensure that a building that will be built in the future won't collapse," De Vera said.
 
Still, De Vera said wider vaccination coverage is key to safe school reopening plans. 

"The COVID-19 vaccination of faculty members and other employees is not a problem since they are already part of the A4 or essential workers category and thus, are likely already vaccinated. Our goal really is to vaccinate everyone from the students' ranks because we do not want limited face-to-face classes," he said.

"We want wide vaccination coverage so we can open our schools for good," he added.

At least 23 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The COVID-19 vaccination for the general population, on the other hand, only started on October 1 or seven months since the mass immunization program kicked off on March 1. — VBL, GMA News

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