CHED advice to colleges: Suspend classes at your discretion

A Commission on Higher Education (CHED) official said on Wednesday morning that the heads of universities and colleges in areas affected by storm Basyang should exercise their own discretion and decide soon whether to suspend classes at the college level, even as a number of major schools have decided to suspend their classes at all levels for Wednesday. CHED Executive Director Julito Vitriolo, in an interview over dzBB radio, reminded school heads that although the Signal No. 2 suspension of classes applies only to high schools and lower-grade schools, they must take into consideration the dangers and difficulties of commuting through impassable streets and coping with power outages. "Ang advice namin sa mga heads of institutions, especially diyan sa University Belt, i-check nila yung situation diyan, and then agad-agad, kung sa tingin nila e tatagal halimbawa mga brownouts at saka kung hindi passable ang mga kalye diyan, e sila na ang mag-declare sa kanilang institusyon kung may pasok o wala," Vitriolo said. Manila's so-called University Belt is a wide stretch of adjacent districts from Sampaloc, Santa Mesa and San Miguel through Quiapo and Santa Cruz all the way to Ermita and Malate, where most of its major colleges and universities are located. Colleges that have suspended their classes for Wednesday Meanwhile, a dzBB radio report listed the following colleges and universities as having suspended their classes for Wednesday at the college level:

• Polytechnic University of the Philippines
• University of the Philippines Diliman
• Centro Escolar University
• La Consolacion College
• College of the Holy Spirit
• Assumption College

Earlier on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for the University of Santo Tomas announced also over dzBB radio that the school's classes at all levels for Wednesday have been suspended. - JV, GMANews.TV