CHED to HEIs: Balance student interests on mass promotion

FILE: Commission on Higher Education in UP Diliman Campus, Quezon City (Photo by patrickroque01/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

MANILA – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has urged colleges and universities to consider the interests of students and to exercise prudence on deciding for a mass promotion for the current academic year.

CHED chair J.Prospero de Vera III said institutions have the “academic freedom” to mass promote students — the policy of promoting students to the next grade level — at this time when the nation is facing the challenges of the coronavirus disease 2019.

“Iyan ay kapangyarihan ng mga propesor at mga pamantasan na magpasa ng kanilang mga estudyante, ‘yan po ay hindi kapangyarihan ng komisyon…dapat ang mga pamantasan kapag pinagde-desisyon nila ito ay babalansehin ang interes ng lahat ng estudyante (That is the authority of professors and HEIs, that is not for the Commission to decide on…the HEIs must balance the interest of all students if they decide on this),” de Vera said in an interview over CNN Tuesday.

De Vera made the statement in response to some college and university students requesting the commission to implement mass promotion across all HEIs.

Some are pushing for mass promotion to protect students while others wanted the opposite.

De Vera said it would respect the decision of schools.

On the other hand, de Vera noted that mass promotion could result in academic problems, especially when there is lack of requirements or basis for the students’ grades.

“Anong ibibigay mong grade kung nagbigay ka ng automatic pass sa lahat? Ang tanong ko pano naman ang mga estudyanteng naghahabol ng honors at kelangan nila ng kanilang grado, yung mga under scholarship na kailangan nila ng grade-point average, mga gustong mag graduate school at kailangan nila ang mga grado nila, mga gustong makapasok ng medical school at ang labanan diyan ay ‘yung pataasan ng (What grade will you give if it’s automatic pass for all? My question is how about the students running for honors who need grades, those under scholarship needing grade-point average, those who want to proceed to graduate school with good grades, those who want to go to medical school where there is competition of) grades,” he said.

Mass promotion could result in more problems than benefits for students taking up degrees with the specific number of hours of internship or on the job training as mandated by law, de Vera said.

“Kailangan mo ito hindi lang para makatapos ng kurso kung hindi para din makakuha ng licensure test kasi ang ibang degree programs ang kanilang requirements are required by law, iyong mga pharmacy, midwifery, medicine, nursing, ang degree requirements niyan ay required ng batas, hindi po pwede palitan ng komisyon ‘yung nakalagay sa batas (You need this not just to finish your course but also to take for a licensure test because there degree programs with requirements required by law, pharmacy, midwifery, medicine, nursing, their degree requirements are according to law, the Commission cannot change the law),” he said.