Two years into the pandemic, Filipinos are still clamoring for effective measures and solutions to combat the ongoing virus. The education sector has been gravely affected especially with the remote learning set-up and has come up with corresponding demands that are yet to be heard.
Many continue to lament the lack of access to stable wifi, conducive learning spaces, deteriorating mental health, and readily available electronic devices. On top of this, recent calamities and the exponential rise in COVID-19 cases have caused added worries and burdens for families, students, faculty, and staff alike.
Prof. Reginald Vallejos, the Vice President for Faculty of All UP Academic Employees Union National, shared how badly hit the academic employees were after the past typhoon and the rapid surge of COVID cases.
“Malaki ang naging epekto ng Bagyong Odette, partikular na ang mga chapters sa Cebu, Iloilo, Tacloban at ang mga kasama sa Mindanao. Sa kasagsagan ng pangangalap ng tulong, biglang dumating ang COVID surge kung saan marami namanng faculty na nagkaka-symptoms – partikular na sa UP Manila at UP Diliman. Napakahirap na ituloy ang pang-araw-araw na gawain dahil pami-pamilya ang tinatamaan ngayon,” he revealed.
The faculty are also faced with the struggle of accomplishing their academic responsibilities even amid worsened health crisis.
Prof. Karlo Mongaya from the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND-UP) narrated their experiences. “Kaya maraming guro ang nahihirapang harapin ang mga gawaing akademiko tulad sa pagtsek ng mga kahingian sa klase, paggawa ng grado, at paghahanda para sa susunod na semestre, dahil kailangang harapin ang pag-aalaga sa kalusugan ng sarili o mga kasama sa bahay na nagkasakit,” Mongaya shared
For instance, the submission of grades has only been extended for three days, from January 25 to 28, while the second semester starts on February 7.
Typhoon Odette has caused a significant interruption to students, alongside reports of COVID infections among many faculty, staff, and students, with some even requesting immediate assistance and adjustment from the UPD administration.
Ajay Lagrimas, the Community Rights and Welfare Councilor of the UP Diliman University Student Council, shared how the results of the grievance forms for UPD students showed that “students are still struggling to meet their academic requirements and deliverables while also dealing with their physical and mental health, as well as other personal concerns.”
This has also incurred great damage to graduate students, supervisors, and workers whose studies and work needed to be put to a halt.
Patrick Cadeliña, a founding member of the Alliance of STEM Graduate Students and Workers – UPD, stated that there are “students, workers, even supervisors who were directly affected by the typhoon who had to excuse themselves for work/class due to either poor connection, prioritizing their community, or both.”
The recent surge of cases also affected the usual activities of graduate students since they “cannot perform their data collection (eg. going out on the field) or analyses (eg. in laboratories in UP) due to lockdowns or themselves having COVID.”
Students, particularly in the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy (CSSP), have clamored for the safe return to physical classes, noting the demands of those who do fieldwork.
Further worries and requisites of CSSP majors, mostly including health, financial, logistic, and department-related concerns, were already forwarded to the CSSP administration which is yet to respond to these grievances.
Based on recent updates, the administration is consulting with the faculty while the College Executive Board will continue to discuss the requirements to safely return to physical classes.
READ: CSSP SC LNBE Position Paper
https://tinyurl.com/CSSP-LNBE-PosPaper
Despite the various calls and demands of different unions and organizations, the university has continued to push through with business as usual. This proves how the moving of deadlines and the different statements released by the UP administration are not enough to address the bigger and more urgent problems of the entire UP community.
With this, the UP Kilos Na Multi-sectoral Alliance calls on the UP Administration once more to adhere to the university’s constituents. The demands are as follows:
- A two-week health and recovery break for all in order to give time for students, faculty, and staff to prioritize their personal well-being.
- Ensuring the continuing implementation of existing academic easing policies in line with the goal of guiding students towards recovery, and to ensure that no unnecessary stress will be given to the students.
- Move the semester to accommodatethe health and recovery break of university constituents, ensuring that the given time will be used to prioritize the health and well-being of students, faculty, and staff and that the university could further study in accommodating its constituents’ process of recovery
The alliance has also sent a letter last January 17 addressed to UP President Danilo Concepcion and Vice President for Academic Affairs Cynthia Bautista requesting a dialogue in order to tackle the aforementioned demands.
As per the latest development, UP Kilos Na MSA is set to hold a dialogue with VP Bautista, VP Yunque, sectoral regents, and chancellors from UP campus units tomorrow, January 21.
Faculty members and other academic employees are calling for a much-needed health break and economic relief to give way for them to rest and recover from hardships brought about by the ongoing health crisis and past calamities.
The All UP Workers’ Alliance particularly calls for P25,000 economic relief aid for all workers amid the crisis.
“Tinutulak namin sa Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) at All-UP Academic Employees Union ang pagkakaroon ng isang dalawang linggong recovery break para sa mga guro, empleyado, at mag-aaral ng unibersidad. Kabilang ng aming panawagan ang pagkakaloob ng PHP 25,000 emergency economic relief. Panawagan namin ay ayuda at pahinga, hindi business-as-usual,” Mongaya said.
More than this, clamors to move the semester are asserted to give way in addressing the grievances of all stakeholders in UP.
“Kung kinakailangang i-move ang semestre, napakahalagang magawa ito dahil sobrang hirap na ang faculty. Ang mga estudyante ay may kabi-kabilang pag-request na ng pag-usog ng deadlines at pag-relax sa mga requirements,” Vallejos reiterated.
Campaigns calling to move the semester have been called for since last year but the UP administration did not heed the demand. However, the UP community is hopeful that it will be moved this time given the COVID surge and Typhoon Odette.
For Cadeliña, he also expects the UP Administration to implement modifications on the health guidelines such as “readily accessible routine testing (RT-PCR and/rapid antigen) and a stringent contact tracing system.” He expects them to “review their machineries within to ensure that salaries of their research and teaching staff will be continuous within and even after the health break.”
This just goes to show how crucial it is to prioritize the multisectoral demands of the community in order to push through with the coming semesters of learning. Lagrimas states that “the UP community, including our administrators, must unite to forward and implement a pro-student, pro-people, and scientific approach to uphold academic integrity while ensuring that the health and well-being of the constituents are of utmost priority.“
The University cannot afford to go with business as usual, while the COVID pandemic has caused physical and mental stress to workers and students, with some having to drop out of school or resign from the workforce.
All sectors of the University are called to stand together and amplify larger multi-sectoral campaigns to ensure that our rights to education would not be further compromised.
Vallejos pointed out that a more comprehensive plan must also be put in place in order to ensure the safe reopening of schools and face-to-face classes. These would include proper health protocols (contact tracing and mass testing), support for boarding (ensuring that there is enough dorm space), and proper ventilation of classrooms and establishments.
We must also acknowledge the faults and inept response of the current administration who is responsible for the grave crisis that we are experiencing. With the approaching 2022 elections, it is a challenge for us to end this cycle of incompetent and inhumane type of leadership.
“Kailangang ibasura ang palpak at militaristang tugon sa pandemya ng rehimeng Duterte at itulak ang mga epektibong hakbang pangkalusugan. Kaya hamon sa komunidad ng UP ang maging kaisa sa mas malawak na sambayanan at ubos-kayang harangan sa eleksyong 2022 ang tambalang Marcos-Duterte na tiyak na magpapatuloy lamang sa palpak at kontra-mamamayang patakaran ng kasalukuyang administrasyon,” Mongaya concludes.
#AyudaAtPahinga
#MoveTheSemUP
#RecoveryForAll
Featured image courtesy of The POST
