At least 130 faculty members of the University of the Philippines (UP) signed a petition to immediately end the semester following the onslaught of typhoons "Rolly" and "Ulysses" across the country.
In a statement, UP professors called on the UP administration to immediately end the semester after "the struggles of the learners are further intensified" by the recent calamities, leaving students and faculty from Bicol, Cagayan, Isabela, Marikina, and Rizal with indefinite loss of electricity and Internet connection, destruction of homes, and loss of loved ones.
"In the months since the beginning of the pandemic, the government has neglected the strong calls to freeze the academic year. Despite the unforgivingly short time to prepare, institutions were forced to conduct classes in an online setting," the statement read.
"These, paired with the lack of proper infrastructure in remote areas that broadly discriminates against the students' location and access to information, left many students behind. Students and faculty alike are subjected to an unjust workload and mental burden on top of the anxieties that the pandemic has inflicted," it added.
The professors noted that teachers are compelled to finish the semester within 13 weeks with "little to no consideration for cancellations and breaks."
With only three weeks left to finish the semester, UP faculty said the pressure to finish the remaining days of the semester has "exacerbated to the point of inhumanity."
Apart from immediately ending the semester, faculty members are asking to halt any additional requirements and to implement a "pass or DRP" system in replacement of the numerical grade system.
More consideration must also be given to students affected by the typhoon.
Grades from the current semester should also be excluded in the computation of the general weighted average.
UP announced earlier the suspension of both synchronous and asynchronous activities from November 16 to 21 to allow students and faculty members to recover following the onslaught of "Ulysses."