The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) cited the retrofitted facilities of the Universidad de Zamboanga (UZ)-College of Dentistry as a benchmark for the safe reopening of the limited laboratory face-to-face classes.
“I think I have found the new benchmark that can be used by all Higher Education Institutions on how they can safely reopen. I am very impressed with what they’ve done,” CHED Chairman Prospero “Popoy” de Vera said in a statement on Thursday.
De Vera said he recently visited the UZ facilities in Zamboanga City and found the large, easy to understand and numerous signage that remind students to follow health protocols against Covid-19.
“The process for pushing for the gradual reopening of colleges and universities has been challenging. My visit to Universidad de Zamboanga is one of the highlights of my trip in the city,” he said.
Other notable practices that can serve as the new benchmark in the new normal of teaching-learning are the use of right sized High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters in enclosed spaces for proper air circulation, glass barrier shields installed on shared workstations to help minimize the spread of transmissible body fluids and a fully mechanized medically equipped quarantine/isolation area for suspected patients while awaiting transport to a health facility.
“UZ also maximized the use of technology in teaching by utilizing simulators complete with an intraoral camera to aid students in keeping with teacher’s instructions,” de Vera said.
UZ has taken the lead among HEIs in Region 11 (Zamboanga Peninsula) in retrofitting the facilities based on the guidelines prescribed by the government for gradual reopening of HEIs face-to-face classes.
Zamboanga City Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar also conferred UZ with the safety seal certification.
“We are faced with an immense challenge to overcome this pandemic with the volatile resurgence of cases and evolving variants coupled with impositions of quarantine restrictions. Navigating our way through these uncertainties, the survival of any organization now depends on how well we adapt to technology, how effectively we can shift our paradigm, and how innovative we are in pursuing new ideas,” UZ Executive Vice President Abram Eustaquio said.
UZ is a private non-sectarian school, established on Oct. 12, 1948.
Source: Philippines News Agency