THE COMMISSION on Higher Education is considering allowing limited face-to-face classes for students taking courses other than nursing or medicine.

CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III said officials plan to allow limited physical classes for engineering, Information and Technology, and Maritime students.

He said that he would ask the permission of President Rodrigo Duterte to allow another batch of students to have in-person classes.

However, he said that they will have to check how the first batch fared.

“First, we have to see whether the first batch of those allowed limited face-to-face work, meaning we have to get data if students are really safe — there’s no infection, no transmission. Once the data is available, I would go to the President and ask for the next batch,” De Vera said.

He said that the second batch will be composed of students in engineering, information technology, industrial technology, and maritime programs.

“Because these are degree programs that have a lot of hands-on activities that cannot be delivered virtually. But all of that is contingent on the safety of students in the first batch,” he explained.