260 student interns stranded in Israel flown back to PH

MANILA, Philippines — Two hundred sixty Filipino student interns from 20 state universities and colleges (SUCs) who have been stranded in Israel due to the COVID-19 pandemic have safety returned to the Philippines last week, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said Monday.

CHED chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said the student interns under the Student Internship Abroad Program have completed their 11 months of international training under the Granot Agrostudies Program in Israel.

In July, CHED, through Commission en banc Resolution No. 396-2020, suspended all foreign internships for Academic Year 2020 to 2021 to protect the health of the students and directed all higher education institutions (HEIs) to bring home all their students who are still abroad.

“CHED has been closely monitoring the situation of these students since March 2020. With the collaborative effort of the Commission and its partner government agencies and stakeholders, out of the 599 student interns deployed in Israel, 260 have already returned to the country on October 14,” De Vera said in a statement.

The returning students, except for the students of Pampanga Agricultural State University (PSAU) and Tarlac Agricultural University (TAU), will stay at the University Pad in Manila for their mandatory quarantine while waiting for the swab test result.

According to De Vera, students of PSAU and TAU will be fetched and transported to Clark City by personnel from their respective provincial government and will undergo swab testing upon arrival at their quarantine facility.

The remaining 258 student-interns are expected to arrive in the Philippines on October 21, and another 54 students on October 24.

JE