OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE PUPQC SUPREME STUDENT COUNCIL ON THE RECENTLY RELEASED PUP MEMORANDUM
ORDER NO. 5 S. 2022

The PUP Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA) released Memorandum Order No. 5 series of 2022 or the Amendment to Easing of Academic Requirements and Grading System due to the Pandemic Limitations earlier this morning. In light of this unexpected announcement, the PUPQC Supreme Student Council (SSC) being true to its mandate of creating venues for hearing the ideas, comments, criticisms, and sentiments of the students, conducted an emergency consultative meeting this afternoon with all-year level class presidents/representatives together with the Council of Leaders Executive Board.

Of a total of 32 class representatives, 28 (87.5%) disagree with the amendment to the academic easing memorandum. More particularly, recurring concerns shared by the class representatives include the inhumane requirement of attendance and recitations despite the fact of having unstable internet connectivity status of the students under the online mode of learning. Additionally, class representatives pointed out that the rationale behind the implementation of Memorandum Order No. 5 has no significant connection to the Alert Level 1 status of the National Capital Region as the alert level status does not ease the students' economic burden brought by the pandemic and loads of academic requirements, especially for those who are working at the same time.

On the other hand, 4 (12.5%) class representatives agree to this Memorandum merely because they find it no different from the weak implementation of Memorandum Order No. 6 s. 2021 particularly as not all faculty members adhere to the implementation of academic easing. For instance, some faculty inconsiderately practice unfair grading system, required graded recitation in class, and even relabeled “reporting” as “presentation” to hide the rotten practice of this requirement. For them, their respective class' decision to agree or to disagree on this recent memorandum makes no sense anymore since the implementation is just similar to what they have experienced during the period of counterfeit academic easing.

Further, the SSC emphasizes that the PUP administration through this speculated implementation of Memorandum Order No. 5 neglects the sentiments of the students and entails that the admin does not cater to the general welfare of the student body as there was no consultation held to check the disposition of each PUP student. If the previous memorandum on academic easing failed to be strictly implemented which resulted in academic injustices and fake leniencies, the latter memorandum could serve as a stronger gateway for the faculty members to freely practice unfair systems inside their classes.

Moreover, the SSC stood its ground to challenge the PUP administration to reassess the implementation of Memorandum Order No. 5 s. 2022. Instead of implementing this anti-student policy, the SSC calls for the stronger implementation of Memorandum Order No. 6 s. 2021, recalibration of Ligtas na Balik-Eskwela, and implementation of the face-to-face internship through data-driven consultation with the student body, the major stakeholders of Sintang Paaralan.

Lastly, the SSC ensures that the consolidated details gathered from the consultative meeting alongside the individual stances of PUPQC students will be forwarded to the Office of the Student Affairs and Services (OSAS) through a position paper.

Further read OVPAA Memorandum Order No. 5 s. 2022: https://www.facebook.com/sscpupque.../posts/3040771566253553

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