MANILA, Philippines — Two hundred sixty Filipino student interns from 20 state universities and colleges (SUCs) who have been stranded in Israel due to the COVID-19 pandemic have safety returned to the Philippines last week, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said Monday. CHED chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said the student interns under the Student Internship Abroad Program have completed their 11 months of international training under the Granot Agrostudies Program in Israel. With the collaborative effort of the Commission and its partner government agencies and stakeholders, out of the 599 student interns deployed in Israel, 260 have already returned to the country on October 14,” De Vera said in a statement. The returning students, except for the students of Pampanga Agricultural State University (PSAU) and Tarlac Agricultural University (TAU), will stay at the University Pad in Manila for their mandatory quarantine while waiting for the swab test result. The remaining 258 student-interns are expected to arrive in the Philippines on October 21, and another 54 students on October 24.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer October 19, 2020 08:03 UTC