Colleges and universities need to "retrofit" for the new normal when limited face-to-face classes resume in August, the head of the Commission on Higher Education said Monday.
Safety protocols include alcohol disinfection stations, wash areas, and direction markers for foot traffic. "Para kapag dumating ang susunod na pandemya, ligtas pa rin ang mga bata," CHED chairperson Prospero De Vera III said.
"We still have to retrofit school facilities even if we now allow face-to-face. We cannot go back as if the pandemic never happened. If we do that and another pandemic comes in, we will go back to the problems we encountered in 2020," he added.
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De Vera earlier said CHED had adopted a policy to continue flexible learning beginning School Year 2021 and beyond. Face-to-face classes can resume once it is proven safe. In-person education is allowed for some medicine and allied courses.
De Vera said that if this setup is proven to be safe for students, he can suggest to President Rodrigo Duterte to expand it to other courses like engineering, information technology, maritime, among others.