Education Secretary Jesli Lapus on Tuesday declined the proposal of presidential aspirant, Francis “Chiz” Escudero calling for an “across-the-board” passing grade for students in areas affected by typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” which hit the country in succession recently.Lapus said the lawmaker’s proposal would further compound the losses in education.
“Passing all students may not be his (Escudero) intention... (it may have been) misconstrued, otherwise losses of lives and properties we sustained, with further costly penalty to the education of our children,” Lapus said.
He added that if the intention is to allow pupils to clean schools and their communities, then it is misplaced as “civic work can be done, especially by older students.”
Escudero earlier said students (elementary, secondary and tertiary) in the typhoon-ravaged areas should be given passing grades adding that for the most schools were destroyed and they could no longer catch up with their studies.
DepEd Undersecretary for Programs and Projects Vilma Labrador also said there is no need to implement the lawmaker’s proposal.
“There is no need to do that since schools will be conducting alternative programs like Saturday classes, two-shift classes and home study program to make up for the lost time due to the typhoons,” Labrador said.
Labrador added that principals and teachers who are on the ground are in a better position to determine what actions to take.
Lapus has ordered the suspension of the one week semestral break for elementary pupils and secondary students to attain the required 204 school days this year which was affected by the cancellation of classes in the aftermath of the typhoons.
The DepEd 2009-2010 calendar says the school year shall begin on June 1, 2009, and end on March 31, 2010.
This is divided into 54 class days in the first quarter, 48 in the second and 51 each for the third and last quarter, Lapus said.
Several schools in Northern Luzon had yet to resume classes following the devastation of Pepeng. Other schools were also being used as temporary shelter by thousands of affected families.
Meanwhile, Commission on Higher Education (Ched) Chairman Dr. Emmanuel Angeles echoed the same opposition saying that the commission does not want to encroach on academic freedom.
“We might be accused of violating academic freedom of colleges and universities if we ordered them to implement such a proposal,” Angeles said.
Earlier, the Ched chief said college and university administrators can shorten the coming semestral and Christmas breaks to make up for the lost time due to the suspension of classes brought by the typhoons.
Source: http://www.tribune.net.ph/metro/20091014met1.html
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