A cooperative learning time, or Coop for short, is a weekly activity in the Junior High School department in the school, Colegio San Agustin Biñan Laguna that gives the student their “free time” for them to do whatever they want as long as they are within the bounds of the campus. An hour every week is reserved for this said Coop time.

This petition would like to emphasize the importance of giving students ample time for themselves inside the campus. According to the World Health Organization, close to 800,000 people commit suicide every year, and according to an article in bullyingstatistics.org, 4,400 of those are from the student body. Our group believes that one of the causes of these high fatality rates in the student body is due to depression. Depression which is therefore caused by heavy schoolwork and stress.

According to Junior High School completers of Colegio San Agustin Biñan Laguna, the cooperative learning time was highly beneficial for them in juggling school works or taking a breather amidst the academic pressure inside the campus. The teachers sometimes used the cooperative learning time to catch up on lessons so that the students can understand the lessons better and do well on examinations.

Our team believes that if the cooperative learning time is to be implemented nationwide, cases of depression and suicide will greatly decrease among the student body of Senior High School. The advantages of the Cooperative Learning time are that it will provide the students a breather or a time to rest since understanding lessons and doing school works can be quite taxing. They can also use time to catch up on performance tasks that they either missed or didn’t have much opportunity to finish at their homes. Lastly, the students can also utilize the time for them to catch up with their friends and be able to share experiences, which can therefore reduce their stress levels.

Sources:

http://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/2017/09/11/reality-of-suicide-in-the-philippines.html​

http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-and-suicide.html