With the on-going national vaccination against COVID-19 to reach the goal of herd immunity in the Philippines, restrictions have been eased by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), the committee responsible in resolving the pandemic in the country. From the community quarantine classifications, IATF has now set a different and a more localized version of identifying areas based on the risk of COVID-19 transmission. These are now called the granular lockdowns and the alert level system.
One of the main concerns whenever the quarantine classifications, now the alert level system, changes is whether there will be also changes in the remote learning setup in the schools and universities. It was March this year when IATF, CHED, and DOH have started to approve selected higher education institutions (HEIs) to start face-to-face classes. The selection of the approved classes were, however, limited to health-related degree programs (See: https://ched.gov.ph/24-colleges-universities-approved-to-re-open-for-limited-face-to-face-classes/). Just this November, the IATF has given the “go” signal in the resumption of face-to-face classes with set conditions including only 50% of the degree program can hold this setup in areas located under Alert level 2. There must also be a high vaccination rate between the students, faculty, and other employees of the schools and the classrooms or learning areas must be retrofitted and inspected (See: https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/11/5/face-to-face-classes-all-degree-programs-alert-level-2.html).
So far, 30 million Filipinos are now fully vaccinated while 65 million doses were already administered (See: https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1159303). On our way to herd immunity, schools and universities are now kickstarting and preparing for the possible resumption of classes soon. However, since it is allowed with only limited number of students and employees, remote learning is still here to stay.
Do you miss the UP Cebu life? Take a quick look at these photos!
