The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases announced Thursday that Metro Manila will be placed under Alert Level 2 from Nov. 5 to 21.
Under the more relaxed alert level, higher education institutions and technical vocational courses would be allowed to implement in-person classes at up to 50% capacity, subject to the approval of the IATF and their respective local government unit (LGU).
READ: Here’s what you need to know about the OCTA-backed Alert Level 2 for NCR
Commission on Higher Education Chairman Prospero de Vera III confirmed Friday, Nov. 5, that schools under Alert Level 2 are allowed to implement limited face-to-face classes under three conditions.
According to de Vera, these conditions are:
- High vaccination rates among students, faculty, and employees
- Approval from the LGU
- Retrofitting of school facilities
“Most probably, that would probably happen in areas where vaccination rate is already high like maybe in Metro Manila universities,” de Vera said.
He adds that under the current alert level, reopening the schools will be applicable to all degree programs.
Initially, face-to-face classes were only limited to health allied courses. In October, de Vera expressed the commission’s intent to expand physical classes to other degree programs.
The UP Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs previously confirmed that preparations for limited face-to-face classes are currently underway.
READ: UP Diliman gearing up for limited face-to-face classes
According to de Vera, the vaccination rate among university faculty and employees is at 73% while the coverage among students is less than 30%. He said that opening the schools could incentivize people to get vaccinated.
“We ask everyone to get vaccinated so that we have now other options to open our classes so that we can slowly bring back our students and get them to go to their school,” he added. DZUP