16/04/2020
Official Statement of the UP Diliman University Student Council on the BOR's Approval of the PAC's Recommendations
The UP Diliman University Student Council vehemently condemns the short-sighted, anti-student, and anti-democratic decision of the UP Board of Regents (BOR) to implement a mass deferment of grades as recommended by the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC).
Despite the calls of students, faculty members, administrators, councils, and organizations across the UP System to end the semester with mass promotion for all students, 6 out of the 9 members present in the Special BOR meeting chose to push through with the PAC's recommendations. The three members who voted against the recommendations were the Sectoral Regents, namely Student Regent Punzalan, Faculty Regent Guillermo, and Staff Regent Pedrano.
The decision contradicts the demands of the UP community. We have repeatedly explained the grave effects of the pandemic on the physical, psychological, and economic factors of our lives. During these extraordinary times, we have made it clear that the PAC's recommendations—although well-meaning and present acknowledgement to the UP community's struggles amidst the pandemic—is myopic, and puts us into further burden.
Students would have to go through accomplishing their requirements for 2nd Semester A.Y. 2019-2020 on top of their other semesters' requirements until May 31, 2021 (Recommendation 1b). This worsens the anxieties that the students are experiencing amidst the pandemic, especially if one cannot even cope with the situation as it currently is. The BOR-approved recommendations of the PAC leave the students with no choice but to adjust accordingly, all in the pursuit of honor and excellence in the context of bourgeois academic standards.
The faculty are given only 14 days to communicate to their students of the adjusted requirement (Recommendation 1e) that they need to submit to lift their "Deferred Grade" (Recommendation 1a). This unfortunately puts faculty members at a difficult position as they, too, are going through the health and economic crisis. It has been established that our current situation is not conducive for learning and that not all stakeholders have the resources to participate in remote learning. With this, to induce burden to the faculty members by giving them such a short amount of time to adjust their requirements is outright inconsiderate.
The challenging situation we are faced with right now is testament to the fact that every single individual is affected. However, we must stand firm in leaving no one behind.
We have seen what victories we've gained out of our collective struggle—from free tuition to our demands for medical solution and socio-economic relief. In fighting for our democratic interests, we recognize that it was the criminal negligence of the Duterte regime that plunged our academic institutions into disarray. We therefore demand accountability and concrete actions from the national government, the Department of Education, and the Commission on Higher Education. The Iskolar ng Bayan is not alone in this fight, rather, millions more of Filipino students in schools nationwide face this crisis. We fight for a comprehensive and pro-people academic policy.
This move from the BOR exposes the colonial, commercialized, and anti-democratic character of education. We shall continue to fight for our democratic rights, ultimately to revolutionize education into being nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented. At this turning point in our fight, we highly encourage our teachers to mass promote their students. This is a matter that greatly affects all aspects of our education, so it is only right that the students, faculty, and the UP community collectively assert our demands, all in the pursuit of honor and excellence rooted in the welfare of the people.
The UPD USC enjoins everyone to continue to condemn the BOR, to demand a more humane policy, and to broaden our fight for mass promotion.
