18/04/2020
BREAKING: Don’t let WVSU students report to school post-quarantine, Academic Council proposes
The University Academic Council (UAC) of the West Visayas State University has proposed not to let students report to school when the enhanced community quarantine is lifted, and to let them work on learning modules instead, University President Joselito F. Villaruz said.
Villaruz was amenable to the proposal, saying this will “help protect the health of our stakeholders.”
“Our University infrastructure is not ideal and is unprepared to accept students if we are to observe precautionary measures, including social distancing,” he told Forum-Dimensions.
Learning modules that students will have to work on off-campus will have to be delivered either electronically or non-electronically.
“The University is now urgently preparing strategies to address access of students to alternative or blended learning,” Villaruz said of the activities “which can be done at home while observing equity in the availability of resources for all kinds of students.”
Moreover, the Commission on Higher Education on Tuesday, through Advisory No. 6, said that HEIs, like the WVSU, using the new academic calendar (August-July) “are authorized to extend their semester for a maximum of one month after the lifting of the ECQ (enhanced community quarantine).”
According to Villaruz, the WVSU shall extend classes this semester until May 31 if the quarantine in Iloilo City gets lifted on April 30.
The UAC is currently “studying proposals on how to implement the extension classes through catch-up class, including syllabi modifications, curricular delivery platforms, and other alternative learning modalities,” he said.
“However, the University will observe maximum leniency and consideration in the completion of requirements needed for promotion/graduation of students,” he added.
If the ECQ is lifted by the end of April as scheduled, midterm or summer classes will be conducted only for graduating students who need to complete their academic requirements, students whose subjects are scheduled in summer, and students taking up graduate studies, CHED said.
Academic Year 2020-2021 will still open in August.
“The specific date will be adjusted depending on our capacity to expedite the closure of the second semester of 2019-2020 and [when] the admission process for incoming students [is] fully arranged,” Villaruz explained.
The CHED advisory further stated that graduation exercises are discouraged.
“The University will most likely abide this,” said Villaruz. But “as the situation remains to be very fluid, the University will respond to requests for graduation ceremonies as the situation allows.”
Story by Eric D. Morguia Jr.