BAGUIO CITY – The country’s Summer Capital is pushing for the resumption of face-to-face classes in the city to prevent the learning crisis from worsening and to cut losses in students' productivity brought about by school closures.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong said this will all depend on the readiness and capability of the schools in ensuring the health and safety of the students which the mayor said has to be hastened.

He said that the two years of school closure has impacted the productivity of students and, according to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the loss when translated to monetary value would mean billions of pesos worth of losses in terms of forgone future wages and productivity.

“We have to pursue the reopening of face-to-face classes and to do that, we have to speed up putting in place all the safety systems so as not to compromise the health and safety of our students,” Magalong said.

The mayor's Executive Assistant Althea Alberto said the city, in coordination with the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), had spelled out the guidelines for higher education institutions (HEIs) like colleges and universities intending to open face-to-face scheme for all courses apart from non-medical ones.

The requirements include inspection by the City Health Services Office and endorsement from the city government to CHED.

For the city’s higher education institutions, Saint Louis University (SLU) and University of Baguio (UB) have signified their intention to conduct face-to-face classes for other courses, and submitted their respective applications to conduct face-to-face classes for non-medical courses, with target dates on March 7.

For basic education institutions, guidelines are still being awaited from the Department of Education albeit the city had received request from the Philippine Science High School.

Alberto said as parameters, schools must retrofit classrooms, facilities and schedules as they would need to limit the number or students at a time to be able to implement protocols on on physical distancing, proper ventilation and others.

Meanwhile, after having undergone inspection and comprehensive assessment as to health and safety protocols, some elementary and secondary schools are now on the verge of approval for face-to-face classes in the coming month of March.

These are Sto. Tomas National High School, Mil-an Senior High School, Sto Tomas Elementary School, Gibraltar ES, Spring Hills ES, Tabora ES, Happy Hallow ES.

Magalong now needs to approve a forwarded barangay resolution, as a final step.

Minimum public health standards (MPHS) should be strictly implemented; with prescriptions for air exchange flow in the passageways, classrooms and circumferential buildings once face-to-face classes start, it was known.

The school’s population was also considered, with parents’ approval, teachers’ concerns and input from the community heard.

He said, inspection team from the Health Services Office, City Engineers Office, Risk Reduction and Disaster Management Office and other offices went around the aforementioned schools and their vicinity to assure meticulous compliance to the provisions and safety checklist of Department of Education (Dep-Ed) Memorandum (DM 071-2022).