THE COMMISSION on Higher Education adopted a policy to implement flexible learning in higher education institutions in the coming school years.

“From now on, flexible learning will be the norm. There is no going back to the traditional, full-packed face-to-face classrooms. If we go back to the traditional face-to-face classroom, we run the risk of exposing our stakeholders to the same risks if another pandemic comes in,” CHED Chairman Prospero De Vera III said.

De Vera made the statement during a webinar entitled ‘Educating our Children in the New Normal’ over the weekend and organized by the Center for Strategy, Enterprise, and Intelligence.

The CHED chief stressed going back to traditional face-to-face classes would waste all the investments in technology, teacher trainings, and retrofitting of school facilities.

“The old paradigm of face-to-face versus online will now disappear. What will happen is a flexible system where universities will mix-and-match flexible learning methods appropriate to their situation,” he said.

“Some of them, the more prepared universities, will continue investing and moving ahead using online platforms. Others will be allowing some of their students to come at specific periods and do more synchronous versus asynchronous learning,” he added.

De Vera noted HEIs can explore creative methods of teaching, stressing that “teachers should realize that the old norms are gone and they must adjust to new standards.”

He added textbooks will no longer be the sole source of knowledge.

“In order to educate children in the so-called new normal, there is a need to rethink strategies and an openness on the part of faculty members and administrators to be flexible in the way they go about managing the educational system,” he explained.