Discretion of schools for lower grades classes in College moved to June 15

CEBU, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education yesterday announced the postponement of school opening in all colleges and universities from June 8 to June 15 as a precautionary measure against the spread of the Influenza A(H1N1) virus.

But the order applies only to classes in the college level since the Department of Education did not match the CHED order with a similar order that would have also reset the opening of Classes in private elementary and high schools already set for June 8. DepEd undersecretary for regional operations Ramon Bacani told The Freeman any decision to postpone the opening of classes in private elementary and high schools will be at the discretion of the managements of these schools.

“It will be at the discretion of their managements if they wish to postpone classes following CHED order. There is no problem if these colleges and universities decide to also postpone the opening of their secondary and elementary divisions because they are allowed to do so, provided they are able to comply with the required number of schooldays which is 210 for the entire school year,” Bacani said.    

The CHED said the one-week postponement of classes in the college level would allow students coming from abroad to self-quarantine themselves in face of the global threat of the swine flu, said CHED secretary Emmanuel Angeles.

Many foreign students studying in the Philippines are still coming in. Some of them come from countries where there are confirmed A(H1N1) cases, thus the rescheduling of the class opening will give them time to self-quarantine,” Angeles said.

The postponement will also allow colleges and universities to extend enrollment, thereby allowing “financially-handicapped” parents to raise money to enroll their children.

CHED regional director Candelario Aytona confirmed receiving the postponement order by phone call yesterday.

He said that as mandated by the tertiary education secretary, the postponement is applicable to all 159 colleges and universities in Cebu and the rest of Central Visayas.

He assured, however, that the postponement will have no significant effect on the quality of education.

DepEd regional director Recaredo Borgonia said he will not order the postponement of classes in private elementary and high schools but will leave it to the discretion of the administrators of these schools.

Some schools in Manila already postponed their opening of classes prior to the CHED order, like the De La Salle University, the University of Santo Tomas, University of the Philippines, Far Eastern University, and the University of Asia and the Pacific.

Cristina Hidalgo, vice president for public affairs of UP-Diliman, said they moved the opening of classes following the recommendation of CHED regarding the A(H1N1) virus.

Hidalgo said other UP campuses in Los Baños, Baguio, Visayas and Pampanga would also postpone the opening of classes to June 16. UP-Manila and the UP campus in Mindanao would open classes a day earlier on June 15.

DLSU issued a statement assuring all efforts are being undertaken to contain the spread of the virus within the university.

School officials said the DLSU campus is now being subjected to a “disinfection process” to ensure the facilities are free from the virus by June 15. The postponement came a day after the DOH confirmed four more cases of A(H1N1), including another DLSU student and a Filipino-American from the US.

The patient, a 17-year-old male, is the third DLSU student to have contracted the virus. First to be reported was a 21-year-old female Japanese student, followed by a 20-year-old male Japanese student.

The Catholic Church has also implemented measures on minimizing physical contact among the faithful amid the influenza scare. The Archdiocese of Manila, for instance, had ordered parish priests and the Catholic faithful to limit physical contact during Mass.

Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales ordered the priests belonging to the Archdiocese to observe the new instructions.

Rosales said the Diocese has suspended giving communion directly to the faithful to prevent physical contact and prevent the spread of the virus. “We are telling them not to give communion by the mouth because the saliva of the parishioner may touch the hand of the priest. If a person is infected with an Influenza A virus, it could be transferred to the next person lined up in communion. That is why many of the priests wash their hands after the communion,” Rosales said.

The World Health Organization has kept its pandemic flu alert at the second highest level since Friday but said that future changes would reflect how severe an outbreak was as well as how widespread.

The UN agency has been weighing how to revamp its pandemic alert scale to reflect both the severity of the flu as well as its geographic spread around the world. This follows criticism that it may have caused undue panic about the new strain whose effects have been mainly mild apart from in Mexico, where it is known to have killed 103 people.

WHO’s pandemic scale at the second-highest level is phase 5 on a scale of 1 to 6, meaning a pandemic is imminent.

The Philippines has confirmed 33 cases of the swine flu infection.

Reaction to the postponement of classes in the collegiate level had been mixed, with students both welcoming the extended vacation but at the same time worried about its effects on their studies and schedules.

Among the concerns was the cramming at the end of the schoolyear.

“I am happy because the vacation got extended but I also hate the difficulties that come at the end of the semester when the common problem is always how to end lessons given the shortened number of school days, Melven Delima, a Southwestern University student.

Ana Coritha Desamparado, a student council officer at the University of the Philippines Cebu College agreed the extended vacation is okay but with reservations.

“It is nice in a way that vacation will be extended, but also not good since it disrupts schedules, like that for the Student Council. We already made a calendar of activities basing on a June 8 opening, but now we will have to make a lot of adjustments,” Desamparado said. - With Philippine Star News Service/JST (THE FREEMAN)