Board of Regents vote to end UP semester on April 30

The Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines on Thursday approved the proposal of the Presidential Advisory Council to end the current semester on April 30.

In a Facebook post, the Office of the Student Regent said that the BOR passed the proposal with a vote of 6-3.

However, the OSR said academic work for students and faculty would continue under a "deferred" grade scheme.

"Final guidelines and implementing rules and regulations to be posted in the next days," the OSR said on Facebook.

The OSR said the sectoral regents representing the students, members of the faculty, and staff voted to oppose the decision.

"The Sectoral Regents stood by our position calling for an end to the semester and for the implementation of mass promotion," the OSR said.

"We express our disappointment at the outcome which did not heed the resounding call of the students, faculty, and staff," it added.

The OSR said the rest of the BOR prioritized "purely academic output and performance metrics which supposedly determine excellence" over the "very real financial, physical, psychological, and emotional anxieties of students, faculty, and staff."

"We are still being pushed to perform and deliver the expected deliverables even as the pandemic is expected to worsen and escalate and sickness and death permeate the air," the OSR said.

The OSR appealed to the local administrators, faculty members, and all members of the University to "uphold the spirit of solidarity and compassion."

"We stand firm that the immediate ending of the semester and mass promotion is still the most humane and inclusive response to the terrible situation we find ourselves in," it said. -Joahna Lei Casilao/NB, GMA News