CHED: Colleges may decide capacity limits

Commission on Higher Education’s Prospero de Vera III. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Colleges and universities in Alert Level 1 areas have the discretion to decide if they will operate at the allowed 100-percent classroom capacity, according to Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) chair Prospero de Vera.

The government’s pandemic task force recently permitted college classrooms to operate at full capacity in areas under the least restrictive level, and De Vera said the schools would have the final say on the matter.

“This means that even if the allowed capacity is 100 percent, if the school thinks the system where fewer students are allowed to go to campus and classes will he held alternately is better, we will leave it up to them since they know the situation in their area,” De Vera said at the Laging Handa briefing.

According to him, 313 universities are currently holding in-person classes, but more schools are expected to begin in-person classes in the 2022 to 2023 school year.

He said many higher education institutions held online classes in January due to the imposition of alert level 3 due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

They set their curriculum or syllabus to accommodate the online classes before returning to the classroom, he said.

He also said the CHEd guides colleges and universities when it comes to preparing their facilities for the holding of in-person classes, but there was no need for them to seek the commission’s authorization before starting these.

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