Some UP profs oppose shift in academic calendar

Shifting the academic calendar is no guarantee of “global outlook and global competencies,” and will only subject both teachers and students to “harsh heat and chastising humidity,” UP Diliman faculty members opposed to the shift said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Congress of Teachers and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy UP (CONTEND UP) said changing the start of the academic calendar from June to August “disregards the rich cultural life and peculiar geographical conditions that define each country.”

“We cannot immediately disregard a long and time-tested tradition of opening classes in June for the simple reason of facilitating the flow of information, students, and academic goods,” it added.

The teacher’s group also said summer heat will be hard to bear both for teachers and students, adding that the student to teacher ratio in the country’s premier state university leaves much to be desired.

“As universities hold classes in April and May, they will subject their students, teachers and personnel to harsh heat and chastising humidity,” said CONTEND UP member Gerry Lanuza, adding there is no assurance that there will be less rain, typhoons, and flooding during August “as the phenomenon of global warming is considerably redefining our climate.”

“Ang ratio dapat ng students to teacher [sa UP] ay 15 is to one, pero umaabot na ang students ko sa GE classes sa 40, siksikan. Magkakahawaan ng sakit. Kung gusto talaga ng administration ng internationalization, dagdagan nila ang faculty, di lang local, kundi pati foreign. Handa ba tayo sa internationalization? Wala tayong basic structure,” Lanuza said.

Last week, the UP system—except for UP Diliman—approved proposals to shift their units’ academic calendars to follow the August to May schedule, instead of holding classes from June to March.

In a statement, UP said Manila, Los Baños, Baguio, Visayas, Mindanao, Open University and UP College-Cebu "completed consultations over the past year and have written the Board of Regents (BOR) that they are ready to shift their calendar."

Diliman was exempted from the BOR decision to pilot-test the academic calendar shift because it has yet to submit its letter to the board, said Maureen Araneta, director at the UP-Diliman Information Office. — KBK, GMA News