A youth group strongly opposed the reported plan of the Department of Education (DepEd) to extend the current school year and cut short the two-month ‘summer’ break of students into two weeks.

The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), in a statement on Thursday, Feb. 18, criticized DepEd for considering such a plan because it will only prolong the “suffering” of students under the distance learning program.

“Students are very tired and are already suffering so much due to flawed distance learning,” National President Jandeil Roperos said in Filipino. “Imposing a two-week vacation instead of two months is inhuman,” she added.

For NUSP, DepEd’s plan is very far from the clamor of students, parents, and parents. “The morale of the students is already very low and DepEd plans to make things more difficult for them, ” she said.

NUSP noted that the implementation of distance learning was already doomed to fail from the very beginning. “DepEd still has no comprehensive plan to address the demands of students and teachers,” Roperos said. “Until now there has been a huge shortage of gadgets, internet connection and poor distribution of modules - there are so many challenges in distance learning,” she added.

Roperos explained that the possible extension of the school year would be another blow to the families regarding the financial issue. “Families are struggling to make ends meet for additional gadgets, internet loads and modules amid rising commodity prices,” she said.

NUSP also pointed out that DepEd has not yet made a comprehensive assessment for distance learning last school year “so it is also unlikely that they will be able to develop a proper and thorough evaluation to address this.”

Given the current issues that hound distance learning, NUSP urged DepEd to “stop experimenting” with students and come up with a comprehensive plan that would ensure quality education for all - especially amid the pandemic.