MANILA - Colleges and universities must come up with a virus resurgence plan if they will be allowed to resume face-to-face classes, a group of private school administrators said Wednesday.
Government officials on Tuesday inspected Our Lady of Fatima University in Valenzuela City, which “retrofitted” its facilities for the possible conduct of in-person classes by January.
The CHED is set to release guidelines on the conduct of limited in-person classes within the month so higher education institutions (HEIs) could hold such type of instruction by early next year.
Aside from retrofitting and virus resurgence planning, class shifting is also among guidelines that the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations submitted to the Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 and the Commission on Higher Education, said its managing director Joseph Noel Estrada.
“A big deal there is not the readiness of the opening but what will happen if there is a transmission, the resurgence, because it is easy to open,” he told ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
(We’re looking not at the readiness of resuming face-to-face classes but what will happen if there’s a transmission, a resurgence, because it’s easy to reopen.)
Schools must also coordinate with local governments for immediate response in the event of virus transmission.
“We know local governments are different in terms of readiness,” he said.
(We know local governments differ in terms of readiness.)
Swab tests are seen to not be required for all students, Estrada added.
“If we’re not requiring that in all industries or sectors, why would we require that for education? It may be prohibitive for students, it has a cost. There is a mechanism that must be triggered before it is required,” he said.
(It might be prohibitive for students because it has a cost. A mechanism should be triggered before it’s required.)
“Definitely health number 1, compliance with health protocols is (are) heightened.”
HEIs are eyeing to begin limited face-to-face classes by January, according to Estrada.
“It will soon be fixed. We would like to have our guidelines ironed out earlier so that we can also consult the stakeholders of each school because the policy environment in higher education is different because the students here are mostly majority. age na, “he said.
(Plans will soon be ironed out. We want to finish these so we can consult with stakeholders because the policy environment in higher education is very different as most students are of majority age.)