MANILA - With mass gatherings still barred amid the COVID-19 crisis, several colleges and universities have decided to waive entrance examinations and instead assess students' admission based on their high school general average, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chair Prospero De Vera said Thursday.

There is no uniform policy on the conduct of entrance examinations during the coronavirus crisis as other higher education institutions are still holding physical or hybrid entrance examinations, De Vera told senators during the Senate's Committee of the Whole hearing.

"Depende sa conditions on the ground at availability of transport, but majority are waiving the admission test for state universities and colleges," he said.

"Ang marami ay ibe-base na lang admission sa grades ng students at course na inaapplyan nila. May iba na may combination ng physical test at online test. May mga munisipyo na susunduiin sila at dadalhin sila by batch sa eskuwelahan para kumuha ng test," he said.

(Most will just based the admission on the students' grades and courses being applied for. Others combine physical and online test. There are municipalities that fetch students and bring them to schools for tests by batches.)

The CHED chief did not enumerate colleges and universities that have waived entrance examinations.

What is certain is that schools cannot implement a mass promotion scheme for students, De Vera said.

• Mass promotion a disadvantage for scholars, Latin honor candidates: CHED chief

"Hindi po kasi puwede 'yung mass promotion kasi it assumes na walang basis to compute grades, but 74 percent of private universities are using the old calendar so they ended their semester in March... They had more than enough basis to keep numeric grades," he said.

It is up to higher education institutions to determine when they would open classes, De Vera said, but noted that schools who are not capable to launch full online courses may only begin classes in August.

The CHED earlier asked the National Telecommunications Commission for free access to online educational resources as the Philippine education sector shifts to a blended learning system to avoid exposing students to the coronavirus.

Under the blended learning scheme, students will be required to study using a mix of modules from online, television, radio or printed resources.

• CHED asks NTC for free access to online educational resources