Updated rules on field trips put focus on students’ utmost safety

FILE – TREACHEROUS ZIGZAG A research and camping excursion of Bestlink College of the Philippines ended in tragedy on a treacherous zigzag in Tanay, Rizal, on Monday. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) is set to issue by June a joint circular expanding the coverage of policies and guidelines on field trips to all out-of-classroom activities of higher education institutions to ensure the safety of students.

In an interview, CHEd Commissioner Prospero de Vera III said the circular, expected to be released next month, was crafted with the Land Transportation Office, the Department of Tourism and the Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board.

The circular will update CHEd’s guidelines on field trips by stretching the regulatory role to the other three agencies and broadening the coverage to all local activities outside the campus, including on-the-job trainings (OJTs), said De Vera.

“The circular is better because previously, only the CHEd regulates educational field trips. Now, all the agencies involved in the safety of students are part of it so in terms of access to information and sharing of data, we will be able to help one another,” he told the Inquirer.

He said the agencies have decided to include in particular OJTs “because of the safety aspect,” noting that some programs in colleges and universities require students to write their thesis in the field.

“We already have the joint circular but we cannot issue it until we have exhausted the public hearings,” disclosed De Vera.

“We are targeting it will come out in June,” he added.

In February, CHEd imposed a moratorium on educational tours in all colleges and universities nationwide to give way to authorities to review current policies on such trips and to investigate the bus accident that killed 15 people, mostly college students on their way to a camping trip in Tanay, Rizal.