The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) drew flak from youth groups for its adoption of a policy implementing flexible learning setup as the new normal in higher education system.
National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) national president Jandeil Roperos said such policy “will exacerbate the effects on students financially, mentally and emotionally, and jeopardize the quality education that is their right.”
“If we look at it another way, flexible learning has also paved the way for corporations to capitalize on the inaccessibility of needed technology - thus putting financial burden on parents and students - which is harder given the rampant lay-offs and rising prices of goods and services,” Roperos said in a statement.
The student union official stressed that face-to-face classes remain to be the most inclusive and accessible option for education in the country.
“It has been a month since lockdown, and frankly, the bursts of calls for academic breaks and academic ease are taking place as a reflection of how exhausting and unsustainable the current set-up in learning is,” she said.
“We need CHED to listen to the students and the other sectors in education and take action from our calls,” she added.
In a webinar last week, CHED Chairman J. Prospero De Vera III said: “From now on, Flexible Learning will be the norm. There is no going back to the traditional, full-packed face-to-face classrooms.”
“If we go back to the traditional face-to-face classroom, we run the risk of exposing our stakeholders to the same risks if another pandemic comes in,” he added.
The Kabataan Partylist has also slammed the proclamation of De Vera, saying that the policy “passes the burden to be ‘flexible’ and ‘adaptable’ to teachers and students while making no actions” to address the issues currently hounding the education sector amid the pandemic.
“We maintain that this is nothing but CHED explicitly ignoring the demand of the students, teachers and parents for a safe return to face-to-face classes. This is gross negligence of duty to the education sector,” the group said in a statement.
“If CHED truly wants students and teachers to perform better, it should support calls to provide student and teacher subsidies and to allocate funding for the safe return to face-to-face classes,” it added.