THE COMMISSION on Higher Education (Ched) has excluded local and international internships, international educational trips and linkages from the suspension of all out-of-campus activities, which came after the death of more than a dozen students in a bus crash in Tanay, Rizal.
In a memorandum released last Feb. 23, local and international on-the-job training, practicum, field instruction, field study and ship board training were excluded from the Ched moratorium on field trips, which was issued last Feb. 21.
International educational trips and linkages sponsored by the national government or endorsed by academic programs were excluded from the moratorium as well.
“In response to the queries and concerns that the Commission has received concerning the memorandum on the imposition of moratorium on field trips and other similar activities, it is hereby clarified that the following activities are excluded from the coverage of the moratorium,” the new Ched memorandum read.
The Office of the Secretary General has also issued a memorandum last Feb. 28, echoing Ched’s order.
READ: UST suspends out-of-campus activities
In its Feb. 21 order, Ched said all higher educational institutions (HEIs) “should institute replacement activities that will serve the purpose intended by such off-campus activities, preserve the objectives sought to be achieved, and see to it that no student shall be negatively affected by this moratorium.”
UST’s high school departments were likewise asked to comply with the secretary general’s memorandum despite the lack of an order from the Department of Education (DepEd).
DepEd is set to issue a moratorium on field trips in public elementary and secondary schools until June 2017, according to a Feb. 22 statement.
On Feb. 20, a tour bus crashed into an electric post along a curved road in Tanay, killing 15 people, mostly students of Bestlink College of the Philippines in Novaliches, Quezon City.
