The President has expressed a positive reaction to the pilot limited face-to-face classes, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday (Sept. 13).
“Positive naman po ang naging reaksyon ng Presidente provided na limited ang pilot at doon sa mga lugar na mababa po ang bilang ng COVID-19,” Roque said in a Malacañang public briefing.
“Si Presidente ay positive ang kanyang reaction doon sa possibility na magkakaroon tayo ng pilot study on a very limited basis. Kung hindi po ako nagkakamali, mga 150 schools lang po ang pilot doon sa mga lugar na kakaunti ang kaso ng COVID-19,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has inspected and authorized 118 schools to hold limited face-to-face classes on 247 programs including Medicine, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Midwifery, MedTech, Speech-Language, Dentistry, and Radiologic Technology.
“Ito ho ‘yung mga programang nagfe-face-to-face na ‘yung mga selected schools, mga third year and fourth year students ito dahil kailangan nila ‘yung hands-on experience para sila ay maging bihasa sa kanilang ginagawa,” CHED Chairperson Prospero de Vera III said on Friday (Sept. 10) during the Talk To The People.
Last April 15, the IATF hiked up the category of students and faculty members that have been categorized as essential health care workers.
“Last April 15, nagpapasalamat po kami sa IATF at inakyat ‘yung category ng mga estudyante at faculty na maging essential health workers sila. So napabakunahan na natin ang close to 10,000 students doing face-to-face and more than 1000 faculty members doing face-to-face classes,” de Vera said.
“Ang infection level sa mga estudyanteng nagfe-face-to-face is less than one percent, it’s only .3 percent. Sa faculty, 1.4 percent ang infection level. Lahat ito ay mild at asymptomatic. Wala pong na-ospital at walang namatay na bata o faculty sa limited face-to-face classes,” he added.
De Vera also asked for the expansion of limited face-to-face classes to other programs, namely: Engineering, HRM, and Maritime Programs.
“Ito lang po muna ang uunahin natin kasi dito kailangan talaga ng skills lalo na si Engineering. Sa Maritime Program naman po, sumulat na ‘yung mga international maritime companies sa Philippine schools na kung hindi papayagan ‘yung mga estudyanteng sumakay ng barko, mag-shipboard, ibibigay po nila ‘yung slot sa ibang bansa,” de Vera said. -PG-rir
