School lab work and activities with personal contact requested by CHEd to be moved to 2nd sem

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has asked universities and colleges to move school activities and laboratory work that needs physical attendance to the second semester of the incoming school year.

This year incoming semester will consist only of lectures and theoretical discussions conducted online, announced by CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera III during a briefing on COVID-19 led by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Photo credit: rappler.com

Activities that require physical appearance like on the job training and internships could be rescheduled for January, by the which time COVID-19 cases in the country would probably be down and a vaccine might have been discovered.

De Vera said private schools and local governments were asking the national government for guidance on the conduct of distance education. They ask on how and what to do especially in areas that have no internet connection.

De Vera added that some schools informed CHED that they would be closing because of a low enrollment rate. Most parents and students are afraid of the virus. De Vera said that when it comes to school and universities closing, they still don't have policies or guidelines because Covid has never happened before. They are still on the process of crafting guidelines.

Aside from parents being afraid, many family businesses were closed, many permanently lost their jobs, because of lockdown parents have limited access to earn for a living. Also, the alternative distance learning mode presents some problems such as lack of gadgets for both teachers and students and the absence of an internet connection of secluded areas. Of all other more reasons, it led to low enrollment turnouts.

Last June, some photos went viral as they showed teachers in Davao de Oro camping at a roadside just to get a strong data connection signal.

In earlier reports, Duterte asked the public for patience, promising to buy transistor radios for those who had neither electricity nor an internet connection.