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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider UP implements 'no-fail policy'; semester to end as scheduled

UP implements 'no-fail policy'; semester to end as scheduled

Published Nov 27, 2020 08:18 pm

Amid calls to immediately end the semester from, the University of the Philippines (UP) has decided to conclude the first semester as scheduled, but will implement a “no-fail” policy.

In a memorandum issued by the UP System Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, it said that the first semester for Academic Year 2020-2021 will “end as scheduled,” with December 9 as the last day of classes.

Based on the memo, finals exams will be held from December 11 to 18, while the deadline for the submission of grades was moved to January 22 “to give students more time to complete requirements and the faculty more time to grade them.”

The circular also stated that a grade of 4.0 or conditional failure, or a failing grade of 5.0 should not be given this semester.

Aside from no failing grades, faculty members were also ordered to not give a forced drop (DRP) to students based on non-attendance of synchronous classes or non-communication within the semester, for instance, during scheduled consultations. Instead, students will be given an INC.

Faculty members were also encouraged to help students affected by the typhoons and the pandemic to comply with the requirements in time for the January 22 deadline for the submission of grades.

“Students with missing or incomplete requirements by January 22 shall be given a grade of INC. Suspended is the rule that states that a student whose class standing is not ‘passing’ and who fails to complete requirements or take the final exam automatically receives a grade of 5.0,” it said.

“Instead, students will be allowed to complete their requirements within the prescribed period within one academic year, after which they shall be given a final grade. Students who fail to complete an INC within the prescribed period must re-enroll in the course or its equivalent,” it continued.

According to UP, the implementation of a “no-fail” policy for this semester is “cognizant of high anxiety levels – due to the pandemic and the impact of typhoons on students and the faculty – as well as the reality that the first semester is still a transition semester towards the learning delivery mode of the next normal and in the spirit of compassion and flexibility.”

Aside from these guidelines, the UP also issued additional flexible academic measures for the remainder of the first semester such as suspension of some academic rules as approved by the Board of Regents.

The memorandum was released as the University said it recognized the “extreme challenges of switching to remote teaching and learning in the middle of a pandemic, and economic and technological limitations made worse by the spate of typhoons that battered the country.”

Appeals for academic freeze resurfaced this month following the onslaught of successive typhoons that hit the country in the past weeks in a bid to give affected students, as well as faculty members ample time to recover.

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