Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama meets with top executives of universities in the city. | Photo Courtesy of Cebu City PIO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Some of the major universities and colleges in Cebu City told Mayor Michael Rama that they want the full return of the face-to-face classes for Academic Year 2022 to 2023.
The mayor met with the top executives of University of San Carlos (USC), University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), Don Bosco Technical College-Cebu (DBTC), University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U), University of Cebu (UC), Southwestern University (SWU), University of the Visayas (UV), Cebu Institute of Medicine (CIM), and Velez College on Monday evening, June 20, 2022, to discuss the issue.
Lawyer Joan Largo, assistant vice president for academic affairs of USC, told the Rama that they have noticed that most students struggle to keep up with their shifting schedules in a a 50-50 learning capacity.
“Among na bantayan nga lisod man gud mag-shifting sa ilang schedule. That is why we are here to meet with you to discuss on this matter,” Largo said in the meeting.
Lawyer Paul Yabao, president of USPF, joined Largo and led the other school officials including Fr. Randy Figuracion, SDB, rector and president of DBTC.
The school top executives said that Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) guidelines require institutions to ensure their facilities meet health and safety protocols, like social distancing and face barriers.
The officials admitted that they need time to reconstruct classrooms and other school facilities to meet the requirements of the IATF, the government’s pandemic policy-making body.
With this, the schools requested that for as long as the students, the teachers, and the personnel are fully vaccinated, they may be allowed to hold full face-to-face classes starting August 2022.
Support vaccination program
As a compromise, Largo said they have agreed to require students, including teachers and school staff, to be fully vaccinated before they can enroll or work.
“Ang amoa lang gyud hangyo is to lessen (the restriction) because when face-to-face classes start, we will also be requiring our students and our staff to be fully vaccinated,” she added.
In response, Mayor Rama said he will issue a directive for the conduct of a special vaccination days for schools and colleges in the city.
The mayor told the private school executives that he fully understands their sentiments and will meet with his management team to discuss this matter.
“Yes I will take it up and discuss how the City can go about it. Basta ang akoa lang, magtinabangay ta sa atong programa sa vaccination, kay mao ra gyud ni ang solution,” he said.
Mayor Rama also urged the group to support the city’s vaccination campaign for a 100-percent learning capacity to materialize, to which the schools agreed.
/bmjo
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