Mass promotion — an act of compassion?

COVID-19 has created an extremely difficult situation for the different sectors of society, government policies, the global economy and the youth.

The current situation has challenged educational systems around the world. More than 110 countries have stopped school activities as part of their mitigating actions to stop the spread of the virus. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO), overall effects of the pandemic include drastic interruptions for learning, increases in dropout rates, along with the effect on nutrition. It has deprived students learning opportunities.

Covid 19 came days before the closing of many schools in the country. Other private schools are just about to conclude the schoolyear. Higher education institutions, however, had to abruptly end the semester that just began (barely a month or so) when the ECQ was enforced.

A point for discussion was the subject on ‘mass promotion’ of all students during the crisis.  Having to make such decisions took a toll for many university heads and professors. In  a recent report, the presidents and heads of 75 local universities and colleges in the country “discouraged” the mass promotion of students during the coronavirus pandemic. In a joint advisory, the Association of Local Colleges and Universities (ALCU) and the Commission on Accreditation for Local Colleges and Universities (ALCUCOA), said that the move to discourage mass promotion seeks to “preserve academic integrity of all courses particularly board based programs and OJT (on-the-job training) where quality and content cannot be compromised.”

Instead, the group proposed the implementation of Seamless-Blended-Digital (SBD) Program for the second semester and summer period of School Year (SY) 2019-2020. Their proposal included funding for the procurement of IT equipment and other on-line resources and funding for training of faculty members on on-line instruction, among others.

According to Raymund Arcega, president and executive director of Alcucoa, the proposed SBD program involved three teaching modes: ‘seamless mode’ – local governments can help deliver physical learning materials to students, particularly those who do not have access to the internet or any digital device; ‘blended’ learning is a combination of online and traditional place-based classroom methods;  and ‘digital mode’ – entails the transformation of digital media, such as videos into electronic books and other electronic learning materials.

Prospero de Vera, Chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), noted that mass promotion could result in academic problems, especially when there is lack of requirements or basis for the students’ grades. Mass promotion in universities may be disadvantageous for students in need of numeric grades, such as those maintaining scholarships or aspiring for Latin honors.

Some schools have decided on mass promotion. One of them is Ateneo de Manila University. The board of regents of the University of the Philippines faculty decided to give all students a deferred grade and allow them to complete any additional requirements to pass their courses within a year. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila has also announced through its president Emmanuel Leyco that it would give its students passing marks for the second semester “in recognition of the serious impact of the coronavirus disease” on the academe. Leyco said that the university provided a “compassionate” approach as students were dealing with the lockdown.

Will mass promotion be beneficial to the students? Is mass promotion a compassionate act during these trying times? Or will it cause more harm than good to our students?

Renowned educational lawyer Atty. Ulan Sarmiento has this to say: As both a lawyer specializing in education and a dean of a law school in the South, I do not support the mass promotion of all students, whether enrolled in primary education, secondary, tertiary or even professional schools.

From the point of view of an education lawyer, the promotion of students based on academic performance is not a burden given to students but a right under the law. To test, grade and therefore, decide whether a student should be promoted to the next level or not is clear under Philippine education laws: Section 16 (5) of the Education Act of 1982 (Batas Pambansa Blg. 232), as implemented by Section 44 of the Manual of Regulation for Basic Education and the Manual of Regulation for Private Higher Education, consistently state that the final rating or grading of a student should be based solely on his or her scholastic performance, and only existing institutional academic policies shall determine the appropriate grading system.

In times as unprecedented as these, however, dura lex sed lex (“the law is harsh, but it is the law”) could be the worst thing to say to anyone and everyone – whether to the school administrators, teachers, students, even the students’ parents. All laws are still operational even during these tumultuous times, but should we not recognize that the coronavirus pandemic is and should be the biggest exception to all of this? No one, not even the authors of the education laws, could have foreseen such a universal and colossal break in the education system. No one was prepared for this. I too question the law: How can schools be most humane, most compassionate to its students, given the opposing demands of the law and the pandemic?

From the point of view of a dean of a law school, a title and role I oftentimes equate to being a father, this is my answer: I oppose the mass promotion of all students because these students, our children, have the natural right to quality education, in whatever circumstance, in all situations. To deny students of their right to quality education is to be inhumane and to turn away from compassion. To be remiss in my duty as a dean and as a father is to be remiss in my Constitutional duty as a member of my State to “protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and x x x take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.” (Article XIV, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution)

As the great Constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas said, quality education is a combination of many things – acquisition of information, development of critical thinking, artistic talents, moral qualities and sensitivity to the needs of others – which the State has the obligation to enforce in all school levels gradually. Quality education means that the government is certain that the basic education of a student is solid, so he or she can enroll in secondary education; that his or her secondary education is solid, so he or she can enroll in college; that his or her college education is solid, so he or she can enroll in professional education and pass its examination. (Records of the Constitutional Commission, 1986) How can the government ascertain solid education per school level? Proper evaluation. I oppose mass promotion because to promote students without proper evaluation is to deny them of their inherent and natural right to quality education.

“Education is a companion which no future can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, and no nepotism can enslave” writer Ropo Oguntimehin perfectly encapsulated. To apply to the present, may I add, “and no virus can cancel.” All educational institutions must find ways to make quality education accesible to all. No exceptions, not even the coronavirus pandemic.

This is the challenge brought to educators nowadays. As William Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet’s soliloquy: To be, or not to be, that is the question!