A group of student organizations in Miriam College has expressed concern over claims that the college’s students were allegedly given additional points by their teachers when they participate in political rallies.
The Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng Miriam said they “have not had that experience” and that the school’s faculty “encourage students to analyze situations that threaten our core values.”
The student body has also noted that Miriam College teachers empower their students “to take action after due discernment.”
“We speak and act as individuals based on our own principles and ideals, and the core values of Miriam College, which we duly uphold. Protests and rallies shed light different social and/or political issues that educate the general public and state leaders alike,” the group said in a statement issued Thursday, July 8.
“While we believe that political participation is fundamental for the protection and promotion of human rights in a democratic society, our participation in rallies is a product of our own analysis and judgment,” they added.
Likewise, the student group has urged their fellow students to participate in peaceful protests, to speak up, and take action based on their respective political inclinations and beliefs.
“We will always strive to become women leaders in service who are agents of change and contributors to the building of a better society and brighter tomorrow,” it said.
The student group did not identify in their statement who made such claims.
But also on Thursday, Miriam College has directly responded to the claim of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Assistant Secretary Celine Pialago of the National Task Force on to End Local Communists Armed Conflict (NTF- ELCAC) that when she was a student at the school, “joining rallies was a class requirement.”
“Miriam College students are not cookie-cutter academic products given the various opportunities offered to study the body politic,” the school said in a statement.
“Empowered to participate in political affairs and various development programs and not to remain bystanders nor fence-sitters, they become engaged citizens committed to building a just and peaceful society,” it added.