On Tuesday, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) rejected calls for an academic break in nationwide or even in Luzon following the extensive damages of typhoons in the Philippines.
In a television interview, CHED chairperson Prospero De Vera III noted that CHED could not make a single decision on academic break.
“No to both, especially for the nationwide academic break because the impact of the typhoon and the disasters are different across different parts of the country,” he said in an interview on CNN-Philippines.
“Number two, no also to the Luzon-wide (break) because the universities are already deciding on it,” he added.
For De Vera, the local government and the school administration should decide whether to implement a break depending on the situation of their area.
“We leave that to the school authorities because different schools and different students and families are affected differently,” he said.
De Vera added the academic break is still being discussed as they wait for the disaster assessment after the typhoons.
CHED rejects call for Luzon-wide, nationwide academic break
“This is still a matter that is being discussed. We don’t know yet the actual disaster assessment on the ground,” De vera said.
“For schools that are severely affected, the commission will help these schools. And if the assistance is in terms of academic break, then the commission will decide on appropriate time on what is the appropriate academic break for individual universities,” he added.
Several universities in the country, including the University of Santo Tomas, the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, and De La Salle University, had imposed an academic break. This was to give students and educators time to recover or help in the relief operations for the typhoon victims.
Meanwhile, faculty members of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman urged the school’s administration to “immediately” end the semester due to the challenges brought by the effects of typhoons that badly damaged the Luzon and Bicol region.
At least 134 faculty members said Sunday that the recent storms worsened the UP students’ and teachers’ difficulties with the distance learning implementation amid the pandemic.