With two years of virtual learning and away from the learning grounds of the institution, PATTS College of Aeronautics finally made its way to the first-ever face-to-face classes since the beginning of the pandemic.

In a virtual meeting entitled, “Town Hall Meeting for Limited Face-to-Face Laboratory Classes,” the Office of Academic Affairs led the orientation for graduating students regarding important pointers on opening the door of the institution to its learners in the 2nd Semester of A.Y. 2021-2022.

New rules and regulations to be conducted inside the school’s premises were also highlighted. These were adopted from the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF). The aviators must follow the new setting dictated in the limited in-person classes memorandum of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

Engr. Joy Cosme G. Amores Jr. (VP for Academic Affairs), gave a general overview of the on-site classes, rendering information about the “new normal” the students will experience. Engr. Amores accentuated changes that PATTS adopted such as contact tracing, one-way foot traffic policy, one entry-one exit per day policy (wherein students are only allowed a single entry in and exit from the campus per day), and the “Cyclical Schedule” as recommended by CHED.

The necessary medical safety regulations and course of action were then tackled by the college’s in-house physician Dr. Racquel Natividad of the Health Services Department. She also highlights the general protocols for quarantine, isolation, and contact tracing.

Engr. Jover Boyd T. Chan, the Chairperson of BS AvTech, presented the implementation of the cyclical schedule required by the education commission. In this, the graduating students are grouped together with turns of being on-site and off-site. Students will spend a number of days inside the campus and an interval in virtual learning - this is varied depending on the student’s enrolled program. Engr. Chan also gave information about the “Time Shift” of the institution where a maximum of 80 students are allowed inside the campus per shift to further decrease the chance of physical infection.

Aside from these, the new grading system for the physical laboratories was also presented. Preliminary and Midterms were removed to allow a more flexible grading system in case a student will not be able to submit on time for cases of manifestation of COVID-19 symptoms. The grading system also implemented an outcome-based 6-activity for the laboratory subjects to instill the productivity of the learners while adapting to the new setting.

In the end, an open forum was ordered to acknowledge the questions of the students before the start of the face-to-face classes.