BAGUIO CITY – Some twenty-six higher education institutions in the different parts of the region had been permitted by the Cordillera office of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED-CAR) to implement limited face-to-face classes pursuant to the mandate of the inter-agency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases.
Based on the data obtained from the CHED-CAR, there are 7 higher education institutions in Baguio City that have been already allowed to conduct their limited face to face classes, 6 schools are in Benguet, 4 schools are in Ifugao, 3 schools are in Abra while there are 2 schools each in Apayao and Mountain Province.
Further, the vaccination rate among students enrolled in the aforesaid schools is around 93.7 percent while the vaccination rate of teachers coming from the same schools is a whopping 99.7 percent.
Some of the HEIs which are composed of state universities and colleges and private institutions have already started their limited face-to-face classes on all courses while some of these schools are set to start their limited to face-to-face classes by the first week of April.
CHED-CAR officials disclosed that all the 26 HEIs already submitted their respective health assessment plants that contains their contingency measures in the event Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases arise among those that are attending the limited classes and which passed the evaluation and assessment of the regulating agency, thus, the clearance for the schools to start their classes.
Aside from the limited face-to-face classes, the schools have also been allowed to resume their sports development activities for their varsity players as part of the ongoing efforts to gradually and safely allow the eventual resumption of full blown face-to-face classes in their respective campuses in the coming months once the COVID-19 situation in the country will further improve.
Earlier, the inter-agency task force on the management of emerging infectious diseases allowed the conduct of limited face-to-face classes for college students who are enrolled in medical courses before giving the go-signal for similar classes in all courses in areas that had been placed under alert Level I.
Education officials encouraged unvaccinated students and school personnel to already avail of the vaccines provided by the concerned government agencies and local governments for them to have added protection that will prevent them from contracting severe infection of the virus and avoid their health condition from being compromised.
More HEIs are expected to also start their respective limited face-to-face classes after the said institutions shall have complied with the stringent rules and regulations from the inter-agency task force to prevent and limit the rapid spread of the virus among students and teaching and non-teaching school personnel.
For the past several months, administrators of HEIs had been busy preparing their respective institutions for the eventual resumption of face-to-face classes but on a limited scale to avoid untoward incidents that may transpire that could cause the transmission of the various classes among their students and personnel