COMMISSION on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero de Vera III on Monday said 570 stranded students due to the enhanced community quarantine has been sent back to their provinces under the agency’s “Hatid-Estudyante” program.
“We have been bringing students home during the period of ECQ and we will continue this until all the students are sent home,” De Vera said, adding the agency is coordinating with other departments under the instructions of President Duterte.
He added that CHED Regional Offices are doing the inventory of stranded students in coordination with the Higher Education Institution.
He said over 9,000 students are stranded in dormitories and schools nationwide.
The Department of Transportation said it has been mobilizing bus, rail, water and air transport to bring the students home.
Out of the 570 students sent home so far, 11 are from Nueva Ecija, 16 from Cagayan de Oro, 66 from Agusan del Norte, 78 from Butuan City, 148 from Agusan del Sur, 32 from Dinagat Island, 106 from Surigao del Norte, and 113 from Surigao del Sur.
De Vera said the students were required to undergone a 14-day mandatory quarantine before they were sent home. — Noel Talacay
