Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Popoy De Vera warned about the possible dangers of not allowing students - especially those who are taking up courses related to health and safety - to attend limited face-to-face classes which require hands-on experience.
“Kapag hindi natin pinabalik ang mga bata, baka hindi nila makuha yung skills na kailangan (If we don’t allow the students , they might not get the skills that they need),” De Vera said during the Laging Handa public briefing on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
Amid the rising cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the country, various stakeholders have expressed concern on the decision of CHED to allow higher education institutions (HEIs) to reopen face-to-face classes.
While De Vera recognized this concern, he clarified that only HEIs that offer medicine and allied health sciences are allowed to hold limited face-to-face classes so far.
“Kapag hindi nakapag-clinical internship ang mga kumukuha ng medisina at nursing, halimbawa, baka hindi nila makuha yung hands-on skill (If the students taking up Medicine at Nursing, for example, were not allowed to take clinical internship, they might not receive the hands-on skill they need),” De Vera said.
“Ang delikado diyan (What’s dangerous about this is that) they are dealing with human lives,” De Vera said. “Kapag guma-graduate iyan, makapasa man sa Licensure, baka yung kakayanan nila eh hindi ganun kaganda, eh delikado ang kanilang mga pasyente (Even if they were to graduate, pass the Licensure , their skills might not be that good, then the lives of their patients will be in danger),” he added.
Currently, 118 HEIs have been allowed by CHED and the Department of Health (DOH) to hold limited face-to-face classes for students taking up medicine and allied health courses.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/08/27/ched-118-universities-colleges-approved-to-hold-limited-face-to-face-classes/
De Vera said the same concerns are applicable to other courses not just in medical and allied health sciences. “Sa Maritime, kailangan talaga diyan gumagamit ka nga makina kung paano paandarin at aayusin ang isang barko (In Maritime, you need to use machines to learn how to operate and repair ships),” he said.
Recognizing this, De Vera said that CHED also asked the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to expand limited face-to-face classes for more degree courses such as Maritime, Engineering and Hotel and Restaurant Management (HRM).
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/08/27/ched-awaits-dutertes-approval-to-expand-limited-face-to-face-classes-to-3-more-programs/
“Kung hindi natin papayagan ang mga estudyanteng gawin iyan, hindi sila makakatapos ng kurso nila, hindi sila makakakuha ng licensure test (If we do not allow our students to do this, they will not be able to graduate and they cannot take the licensure test),” he added.
RELATED STORY:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/08/28/ched-optimistic-that-more-heis-will-be-allowed-to-hold-limited-face-to-face-classes/