UP Board of Regents rejects plea to postpone September 10 class opening

The University of the Philippines Board of Regents (BOR) has rejected the appeal to postpone the scheduled September 10 class opening, amid concerns about the shift to remote learning.

The UP Office of the Student Regent (OSR) announced this in a Facebook post on Wednesday, September 2.

The decision was made during a UP BOR meeting tackling plans and programs for the upcoming academic year on Wednesday, where the UP OSR presented the petition calling for the postponement of classes.

UP BOR is the highest decision-making body in the UP system.

The rejection of the appeal means that UP will start conducting remote teaching and learning, with the possibility of blending remote and face-to-face meetings, starting September 10.

Almost 10,000 students across the UP system signed the petition of the UP OSR and the University Student Councils (USC), emphasizing how the university must ensure safe, free, accessible, and quality education in the midst of a pandemic.

One of the petition’s key points was the appeal to postpone the opening of classes, as many continue to be unprepared to make the shift to remote learning.

The UP OSR petition said that a majority of students are still not confident that UP can pursue the remote learning system without leaving any student behind.

“Even though UP-led and student-led initiatives and efforts seeking to aid our students are commendable, we cannot deny the fact that with the pace that we are in right now, the education of hundreds if not thousands of UP students would be compromised,” the UP OSR said.

The petition also noted that students who are not covered under the free tuition law and have financial constraints may not be able to cope with the shift to remote learning. 

Until now, the breakdown of expenses for tuition and other school fees have yet to be officially released. This also includes the details on applications for student financial assistance, according to the UP OSR petition.

Based on official UP data, more than 5,600 UP students cannnot afford technology and tools for remote learning. Around 1,600 of these students have no resources at all to make the adjustment, and for at least 4,000 more, sustained use of technology is no longer feasible because the pandemic has made their households financially vulnerable.

UP community refuses to stay silent

The decision was made even after members of the UP community had made clear their struggles with the shift to remote learning.

Prior the UP BOR meeting, teachers, employees, and students amplified a united call to extend financial and technological support to students and faculty members, as well as to regularize and provide aid to UP workers during a mobilization at Quezon Hall late Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday night, September 1, students and faculty members staged an online protest to urge the UP administration to push back the opening of classes until medical and economic solutions are provided by the government. Their calls quickly gained traction online, as #PostponeClassesUP and #WalangIwananUP trended on Twitter nationwide on Tuesday night. 

UP students lamented during the Wednesday mobilization how the UP BOR failed to understand their plight during the pandemic.

As far back as April, the UP community had expressed their struggles to adjust to online learning due to financial constraints, mental health issues, and unstable internet connectivity. They had called for an early end of the second semester and mass promotion of students under academic year 2019-2020.

While the UP BOR acquiesced to end the semester early, it still continued academic work for students and faculty under the “deferred” grade scheme for the second semester.

“‘Di ito ang unang beses na nagprotesta tayo, pero ‘di rin ito ang unang beses na binibigo tayo ng BOR…. Hirap ang Board of Regents na intindihin na hindi pa handa ang pamantasan para sa remote learning. Dati pa, maraming estudyante ang ‘di nakakapag-aral, paano pa ngayon?” said Kenneth Eser Jose, Vice Chairperson of the UP Diliman USC during the mobilization.

(This is not our first time to protest, but this is also not the first time that the BOR disappointed us. They are having a hard time understanding that we are not yet ready for remote learning. Many students were unable to study before, what more now?)

Acknowledging the number of students struggling to cope with remote learning, UP has so far launched Kaagapay sa Pag-aaral ng Iskolar ng Bayan or #KaagapayUP, a fundraising campaign to equip UP students in need with gadgets and internet connectivity. – Rappler.com