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CHED, IATF to decide on expansion of limited face-to-face activities in the tertiary level
CHED, IATF to decide on expansion of limited face-to-face activities in the tertiary level
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Popoy De Vera on Monday, Dec. 13, said that further expansion of limited face-to-face classes and other activities in the tertiary level would no longer require approval coming from the President.
De Vera, during the ceremonial signing on the joint memorandum circular on the resumption of collegiate athletic training, said that efforts pushing for the gradual resumption of activities in the tertiary level started as early as last year.
With conduct of face-to-face classes prohibited in all grade levels due to the threat of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), CHED crafted the Flexible Learning curriculum for all higher education institutions (HEIs) in 2020.
“The Commission recognizes that at some point in time, we need to reconsider in higher education institutions for all activities inside our universities,” De Vera said.
De Vera shared that as early as July 2020, he went to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to request the approval of a policy allowing limited face-to-face classes in universities.
“It took us roughly another year to figure out the timeline for the guidelines that would ensure the safety of the students, the faculty and employees and another half a year to convince the President to authorize the limited face-to-face classes,” De Vera said.
With the help of the HEIs, De Vera said that in January 2021, the President approved the conduct of limited face-to-face classes in Medicine and Allied Health programs.
De Vera noted that the conduct of limited face-to-face in select courses became possible when the Department of Health (DOH) allowed that the students and faculty who will participate in the limited face-to-face classes be classified as “essential health workers.”
“So they were vaccinated and became the first batch that started in January 2021,” De Vera said.
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With less than one percent infection rate - 0.3 percent for students and 0.6 percent for faculty - De Vera once again requested the IATF to allow the higher education personnel to be reclassified as “economic frontliners.”
“We started vaccinating our faculty and employees in April of 2021,” he said.
In September, the second batch of students who will attend limited face-to-face classes were also allowed.
Moving forward, De Vera said that any decision related to limited face-to-face classes and other activities will be done by CHED and the IATF.
“This does not need presidential approval anymore. Sa susunod , CHED and IATF na lang ang bahala (In the coming batches, CHED and IATF will take care of this),” he said.