Ched guidelines on fieldtrips out in june

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) is expected to issue by June a joint circular expanding the coverage of regulations on field trips to include all off-campus activities, including on-the-job training (OJT).

In an interview, CHEd Commissioner Prospero de Vera III said the circular was drafted in coordination with the Land Transportation Office, Department of Tourism and Land Transport Franchising and Regulatory Board.

The circular updates CHEd’s guidelines on field trips by making the three agencies among the regulators. It also expands coverage to include all activities outside the school campus, including OJT programs, he added.

“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 had decided to include in particular OJTs “because of the safety aspect,” noting that some programs in colleges and universities required students to write their thesis while out in the field.

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

In February, the CHEd imposed a nationwide moratorium on educational trips in all colleges and universities to allow officials to review current policies and to look into the bus accident that killed 15 people, 14 of them college students on their way to a camping trip, in Tanay, Rizal.

The students of Bestlink College died after their bus crashed into an electric post on Magnetic Hill in Tanay on Feb. 20. At least 40 passengers aged 18 to 19-years-old were injured. Earlier this month, some of the survivors filed a P10 million damage suit against bus operators Panda Coach Tourist and Transport Inc., and Haranah Tours Corp.