The National Union of Students of the Philippines NCR and College Editors Guild of the Philippines call on President Rodrigo Duterte and the Commission on Higher Education to cancel online classes for the duration of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon.

Since classes were cancelled in National Capital Region on March 10, 2020, effective until April 14, 2020, due to the COVID-19 local transmission, schools were advised to hold online classes.

Consultations with various student councils and organizations, and the reports from students showed that students found it difficult, if not impossible, to adapt with online classes being implemented considering that there is little-or-no preparations given to the students for the changes in learning scheme.

Some common or remarkable difficulties to consider the call to cancel online classes are:

1. Not all students have access to gadgets and stable internet connection that are both essential for the online/distance learning scheme.

2. Many students went home to their respective province where there is little or no connectivity following the announcement of the week-long suspension of classes or they have no access to internet.

3. With regards to the enhanced community quarantine, computer shops are not accessible for students to use in order for them to catch up with their studies.

4. Due to financial constraint, the students’ families budget their money only to buy the necessities for the month-long quarantine and internet connection or even limited data access are additional expenses.

5. In lieu of No. 4, students have only limited access when it comes to stable WiFi or Internet connection. Hence, some would rely on prepaid load considering the average cost of P50 for an Internet promo.

6. The mode and ways of teaching varied, more so in the online learning scheme, which often led to the students and teachers unable to understand each other well.

7. Some schools have no proper guidelines upon imposing policies especially to students who did not comply with the requirements that needed to be submitted online.

8. Some schools do not have learning management systems or open universities in order to fully plan, implement, and access specific learning processes

9. While some were given maximum consideration by teachers, some students were given time to submit the requirements by the time class resumes. However, they will be rushing their studies along with complying with the requirements.

"As a concerned student from Trinity University of Asia, it is such as travesty to see the students fail because they don’t have stable internet connection or their own computers or laptops. We hope the students and their families would not be compelled to circumvent the guidelines of the quarantine to be able to comply with online classes when our priority right now should be our health and security. We asked that online classes be suspended with an order from the President or CHED that schools would need to comply, otherwise these classes would continue under these present difficulties."

Moreover, the National Union of Students of the Philippines Metro Manila calls on President Duterte to order a suspension of tuition payments to ease the burden of the students and their families.

#SuspendOnlineClasses