Schools will be inspected first if face-to-face classes will be allowed – Galvez

MANILA, Philippines — Should physical classes resume in areas under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) schools will be inspected first to figure out how health protocols could be implemented, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr.,  the chief implementer of the government’s COVID-19 response, told President Rodrigo Duterte in briefing aired late Wednesday night by state television network PTV.

Galvez said there should be no playgrounds and canteens with a buffet to avoid close physical contact.

“We have seen that, before we open schools that allow limited contact, we have to do re-engineering. We have to see the protection — what should not be done, what should be done,” Galvez said in Filipino.

“We have to do implement a reconfiguration of ‘one-way in and one-way’ so that they would not run into other,” he added.

Earlier, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) earlier said that no face-to-face classes would be allowed, but it may be allowed in the following months in areas under a modified general community quarantine where there is a low risk of coronavirus transmission.

CHEd Chairman Prospero De Vera said his office would coordinate with the Department of Health to craft guidelines on possible face-to-face classes in these areas.

—With a report from Jim Mendoza

/atm

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