In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) has implemented its pioneer fully-online learning scheme Benilde Online Learning Term (BOLT) last August 2020 and currently Virtual Benilde (VIBE). On-campus health safety protocols have been maintained and modified in accordance with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) guidelines; and preparations for a possible blended learning modality through Benilde Boarding School (BBS) in January 2022 is still subject for approval, and has been postponed to a later date, due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The College’s income had reduced by 30-40% since the past six years due to the K-12 curriculum and a mandate of offering free education to select students contributing to less enrollees, all of which were expected by DLS-CSB; according according to Benilde Brother-President Edmundo “Dodo” Fernandez. Moreover, the College was actually supposed to pick up with its income last 2020 had the pandemic not happened.
The current safety protocols
From staff retrenchment to limiting on-campus operations, Benilde has cut back on plenty of expenses that are not necessary for school operations during the pandemic. As for the employee and education protocols for COVID-19, only the Taft Campus remains open for employees to voluntarily report to work as it is not an air conditioner-centralized campus.
“People entering the Campus will be required to go through a screening process of their health status based on the health declaration form they submitted. The health declaration form (HDF) will be made available online,” Center for Safety and Security Director John Zablan said in an interview with The Benildean.
The usual protocols of wearing a face mask and face shield, and sanitation upon entry is also being practiced up to this date. Mr. Zablan also clarifies that the College’s guidelines are also dependent on what IATF, Department of Health (DOH), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and other related government institutions will be releasing. Inside offices and classrooms that associates may occupy for online teaching, physical distancing is still strictly observed. There is currently an Office Work Plan and classroom configuration being developed to adjust the number of people entering the said areas as well as a distanced flow. Floor markers and reduced elevator capacity is also among the protocols practiced, and are to be expected upon return to face-to-face (F2F) modality.
Moreover, borrowing of equipment and books are also being practiced through a reservation and pick-up/drop-off scheme for Film students, that of which is not as tedious as actually entering the campus, protocol-wise.
“Should face-to-face classes be approved by the government again, expect a school whose main concern is the safety of everyone with guidelines based on what is approved by the government along with additional provisions approved by the school to make sure everyone is safe. Safety and security is best done in layers and layers can be truly reinforced if everyone in the community does their part,” Mr. Zablan said.
Vice Chancellor for Academics Geronio Ulayao has said that DLS-CSB’s shift to online modality has stabilized, though there are still unavoidable issues in the areas of services that require personal contact or communications. “We could say though that we have already established a certain rhythm that allows us to respond to the needs of the members of the community in a much-improved manner. [...] However, there are laboratory and studio courses that cannot be offered through any other modality except face-to-face,” he said.
Br. Dodo does recognize that “what full-online modality has taught academic institutions, is that it can work. It doesn’t work for all, it depends on the type of learner and it also depends on the type of program, and it also depends on how good the teacher is. But it’s an exciting time, because when we come back, I think it will be a mixture of online and face-to-face.” Upon inquiring about education operations in partner La Salle Schools in Hong Kong and Singapore, he was surprised that after a full year of lockdown, schools have actually resumed full-operations starting with the lower grade levels, and there were no cases that were transmitted within the institutional grounds.
Into the boarding school
On the much anticipated Benilde Boarding School targeted mainly for Culinary Arts students of the School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management (SHRIM), Br. Dodo has explained that the idea had been considered since the first term of A.Y. 2020-2021. “In fact, CHED has this idea that we were actually allowed, but we did not push through with it, because it was not viable from an economic point of view, and we’re reviving it,” he expressed. The BBS is still subject for clearance approval by the IATF and CHED, but the implementation of the BBS originally targeted by January 2022 has been postponed due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
There is a “good chance” that it will be approved by the respective authorities as the previous issue of not being able to acquire viable COVID-19 tests has been resolved, and is subject to the approval of parents and students. If approved, the College “will file the request to the appropriate government authorities for clearance (CHED, IATF, Mayor's Office).” Br. Dodo also believes that, “I think people are more or less, despite the surge, are getting used to living with the virus so to speak, and we’re learning how to deal with it properly so there’s a lot less irrational fear, but still we should be safe, we shouldn’t be complacent and let our guards down, but at least we are a bit more realistic now.”
Br. Dodo summarized the operation process of the BBS should it be implemented. “Prior to coming in, they’ll be asked to quarantine themselves. And prior to coming in, they will be swabbed, and then since we have the sports dormitory, that’s their pre-dorm area, they'd stay there for a few days; and then they’ll come to the hotel where they’ll be housed, and then in the middle of it, they will also be swabbed. So there’s constant checking of whether they’re healthy or not. They’ll be kept, like a bubble, all our staff and teachers will also be kept inside until the two weeks or subjects are finished. That’s as far as I know. Sanitation of premises is constantly done, before, during and after.”
“We’re looking at different options, because we don’t want it to be too many, we want to keep the numbers low, but constant batches coming in, constant turnovers so let’s say two weeks for one group after that another two weeks for another group,” Br. Dodo explained the possible setups to be implemented, with discussions of implementing two to four enrollable laboratory courses for students in the two-week period by the beginning of 2022, within a blended learning modality. He believes that vaccines should be widely available by the third or fourth quarter of 2021, so there is a safer means of pushing through with the boarding school.
Eager to safely implement the F2F modality, he emphasized that, “face to face is important for (peers). I think it’s important that students get to see other students, it’s all about friendship, it’s all about relationships, it’s all about emotional, mental health. I think there's still value for school especially now people hunger for face to face [interactions], people hunger to see each other, not just students, also other people.”
Survey results from parents
However, in a survey conducted with 1,349 Benildean parents last January 2021, it showed that most parents are most comfortable with implementing F2F classes by 2022, and whenever COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to the public already.
The main concern of parents in allowing their children to study back under an F2F setup was if the College would regularly monitor all standard health protocols, with monthly intervals of administering Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests to all students, staff, faculty, and employees of Benilde.
Under SHRIM, 42.21% of the parent respondents had voted against enrolling their child in the boarding school in consideration of safety, cost, quality of learning, duration, travel from province, and graduation concerns. 36.2% of the parents are “somewhat confident” while only 8.7% are “very confident” in sending their child for a face-to-face setup due to a level of distrust in the government, complications in online modality and quality of instructional delivery in academics, health concerns, and the availability of a vaccine. Majority of the parents from all schools of Benilde have also voted against enrolling their child in the BBS for the same reasons.
Due to these results, the implementation of the BBS has yet to be declared.
Other educational opportunities
Should the BBS be effective, there is also a possibility of opening it to other programs in the School of Design and Arts (SDA) such as graduating Interior Design students, Architecture students, Multimedia Arts (MMA) students, as well as Film students.
“The College is now working on the "Benilde of the Future Initiative" that will transition our school into the post-pandemic world. We are going to create an environment that will weave traditional approaches and technological features into our system of delivering education. We need to accept the fact that returning to our pre-pandemic ways is no longer feasible due to the lingering effects of the pandemic and the investments required to address those effects. Once we have finalized the plans, we will be conducting a series of orientation for all members of the Benildean community for them to understand what Benilde will be like in the very near future,“ said VCA Ulayao.
