The next batch of students that might be allowed to attend limited face-to-face classes are those taking up programs that require hands-on activities, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said.

To date, CHED Chairman J. Prospero de Vera III said that there are 64 colleges and universities that have been allowed to hold limited face-to-face classes. However, these are only for students taking up medical and allied health courses.

“First, we have to see whether the first batch of those allowed limited face-to-face work, meaning we have to get data if students are really safe –there's no infection, no transmission,” De Vera said in an online press conference during the 1st National Higher Education Day on May 18.

“Once the data is available, I would go to the President and ask for the next batch,” De Vera said - noting that the initial data on the first batch of those that have been allowed to hold face-to-face classes is “very positive.”

In the University of the Philippines (UP) -College of Medicine, for instance, he noted that “in the first two months of classes, there was zero transmission.” Same goes for the Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) wherein during the first month, “they had zero transmission.”

De Vera said that if “this holds true” in the more than 60 higher education institutions (HEIs) that have been allowed face-to-face classes since January this year, CHED’s Commission on en banc “will study and recommend for the second batch.”

He added that CHED is carefully considering which programs it will recommend to the President.

However, De Vera noted that next batch would probably include students under Engineering, Information Technology, Industrial Technology, and Maritime Programs.

“These are degree programs that have a lot of hands-on activities that cannot be delivered virtually,” De Vera said. “But all of that is contingent on the safety of students in the first batch,” he added.