ALL VAXXED: Some 300 graduating students of the University of Saint Louis Tuguegarao (USLT) hold an in-person graduation ceremony, a first for Cagayan province during the coronavirus pandemic, on Feb. 5, 2022, while strictly observing health protocols and for everyone in attendance to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. —PHOTO COURTESY OF USLT
In-person classes are now allowed in certain areas, so why not in-person commencement exercises? A lawmaker made this call as the slowdown in COVID-19 infections prompted appeals to downgrade Metro Manila to alert level 1, the most relaxed quarantine restriction classification. Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo cited a clamor among students and parents for in-person graduation ceremonies to be allowed at the end of the school year if the pandemic situation will allow it. “I am urging the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Department of Education to issue at the soonest possible time and with due regard to minimum health and safety protocols, the guidelines for [in-person]graduations,” Salo said. He added: “Graduations are one of the proudest moments of a parent and a child’s lives.” —Julie M. Aurelio