Amid the surge in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections nationwide, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) were urged to implement academic ease measures in all schools nationwide.

The Rise for Education Alliance - High School (R4E-HS) started a petition at change.org urging the DepEd and the CHED to implement nationwide academic ease for students in basic education and tertiary level.

As of Monday, Jan. 10, the said petition has 2,429 signatures.

“The student sectors demand a genuine academic break that prioritizes students' overall health and well-being over the alarming volume of academic workload during the new distance learning mode,” the group said in its petition.

During the academic break, the group said that DepEd and CHED can also use this period to “assess the situation and implement pro-people plans and adjustments in response to the learning environment we are in.”

Aside from implementing academic breaks, the group is calling on DepEd and CHED to instruct the schools to extend the deadlines for requirements.

“Stringent deadlines must be scrapped, both for the students and the teachers, because these impose an expectation that everyone must be able to work at the same pace, which is prejudicial to the different conditions of many where a lot are intensely suffering from the repercussions of the crisis,” R4E-HS said.

The schools, the group pointed out, should also relax academic requirements.

“In looking after the general welfare of the populace and prioritizing their health, which includes their mental disposition, the educational system must appropriately adjust its curriculum in allowing for the reduction of workload that is only within the reasonable amount in accordance with consultation with students and teachers,” R4E-HS explained.

“Thus, easing academic requirements is only within reason, given that the reported workload has greatly affected students negatively, leading to many instances of health deterioration,” it added.

DepEd and CHED were also urged to uphold a “no-fail policy” as an “act of compassion for those who are struggling in the current mode of learning.”

The school administrators, the group added, should also be concerned about the lack of accessibility and equity if they want to maintain a fair and just system of learning.

Moreover, the group is pressing the government to distribute P10,000 student aid to “bridge the economic barriers that widen the crisis of inaccessibility of distance learning.”

R4E-HS said that the distribution of P10,000 financial aid to all students --- where P2,000 will be given to students for five consecutive months --- will help them in their online learning expenses.

Along with the National Union of Students of the Philippines - High School (NUSP-HS), R4E-HS is also pushing for the safe resumption of physical classes to address gaps in learning using distance or remote modalities.