HEIs not under ECQ allowed to finish academic year
Higher education institutions (HEIs) in areas not under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) are allowed to operate and wrap up their assessments for academic year 2019-2020, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said yesterday.
As part of precautionary measures, Roque added that there would also be a transition of classes in what is called “flexible learning” for the next school year.
“Starting May 4, higher education institutions are allowed to resume their operations through a skeletal force in areas not under enhanced community quarantine to finish their academic year 2019-2020 and prepare for a flexible learning arrangement for the next school year,” he said in a virtual presser.
This was the response of the InterAgency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), which was also approved by President Duterte, to the call of some private schools to resume
their classes in June despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The decision is clear: higher education institutions may operate under a skeletal force to wrap up the academic year and to work on what they now call as ‘flexible learning,’” Roque said.
“Well, if it is flexible, that may be covered by the directive on flexible learning. But the opening of classes – physical opening, that is still prohibited,” he added.
Health experts have advised the government against the opening of classes, if possible, until December this year, because transmission is high among students in a school setting.
The Federation of Associations of Private School Administrators (FAPSA) said its member-schools are eyeing the opening of classes in June as they are ready to implement various teaching and learning strategies.
FAPSA president Eleazardo Kasilag noted that in a recent virtual consultation with officials of the Department of Education (DepEd), the group “declared its intention to open most classes” for school year 2020-2021 in June.
This is way earlier than the school opening eyed by the DepEd in August or the recommendation of the IATF to start classes in September.
Meanwhile, in a report to Congress submitted last Monday, Duterte said the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has been coordinating with the Department of Information and Communications Technology to enhance the internet access of students and HEIs, especially during the ECQ period.
The President said plans include giving students special or reduced rates for internet services, free access and downloading of educational resources in the internet and interconnectivity among state universities and colleges.