For the 2020-2021 online bar examinations, there will be no announcement on 10 topnotchers but those who get a weighted average score of 85 per cent will be recognized for exemplary performance.
However, the SC said the non-recognition of 10 topnotchers will only be, in the meantime, for the 2020-2021 bar examinations which will be held in at least 24 testing sites nationwide for four Sundays in November.
Also, the SC said that aside from recognizing exemplary performance of examinees, it will have a list of law schools ranked from the most to the least number of passers among first time examinees, and a separate list ranked from those with the most to the least number of examinees recognized for exemplary performance.
“It is hoped that by shifting the focus away from how select individuals excel and onto a school’s collective performance, this will encourage deep-seated and wide-ranging improvements in legal education,” the SC said through Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, chair of the 2020-2021 bar examinations committee.
The SC’s decision is a departure from the traditional policy that 10 topnotchers are announced simultaneously with the release of the results of the bar examinations.
Bar examinations for 2020 was cancelled by the SC due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The SC then decided to hold the tests online simultaneously with the 2021 bar examinations.
The SC said the modification in the grading system for the 2020-2021 bar examinations was one of the reforms proposed by Justice Leonen.
It said the modification was done “to enable a more reasonable approach to appraising and reporting on Bar Examination performance.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the SC said that it had to take into consideration the two batches which would be taking the examinations.
“On one hand, those who had intended to take the Bar Examinations in 2020 either had more time to review, or endured more time for waiting,” Leonen said in a Bar Bulletin.
He said: “The 2021 graduates, on the other hand, had to endure the longer ordeal of preparing to graduate during the pandemic, causing delays in the graduation dates. They have been put in a constrained environment, with only a brief window of time to prepare.”
“Testing two batches of examinees that prepared under different circumstances-- not to mention the vast number of combined examinees, placing an enormous demand on the examiners -- compels the adoption of unique mechanisms that aim to balance these inequalities,” he also said.
So far, there are now 24 testing centers nationwide for the bar examinations set Nov. 7, 14, 21, and 28.
The SC said that four other testing centers -- three in Metro Manila and one in Central Luzon -- are still being considered.
It said the use of testing centers nationwide is aimed at “reducing the examinees travel and accommodation expenses as well as minimizing their transit to comply with public health guidelines in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The SC’s Office of the Bar Confidant (OBC) started accepting, also online, applications to take the examinations. Payment of P10,000 per applicant can also be paid online.