Camarines Sur students forced to transfer to other schools over bag-burning video, photos

LEGAZPI CITY—Two students of Bicol Central Academy (BCA) in Camarines Sur province, who posted the videos and photographs of schoolbags being burned by their school administrator on Aug. 17, said they were forced to transfer to other schools after the incident as they were barred from attending their classes so they could comply with their academic requirements.

One of the students, who requested anonymity, said they “had no choice but to transfer to other schools.” One of them moved to a school in Naga City while the other student enrolled in a school in Libmanan town, where BCA is operating.

School exec suspended

Alexander James Jaucian, BCA administrator, was shown in the video berating students for not following a “no-bag” rule during a school activity while their belongings were burned at the school grounds.

The video went viral and Jaucian was ordered suspended for 90 days without pay by the school’s board of trustees. Jaucian was also ordered to apologize to 15 Grade 11 students, whose bags and other belongings were destroyed.

But school personnel had allegedly shifted their ire on the students who recorded the incident.

Apology

An Inquirer source said the students had asked the school administration to allow them to comply with school requirements but they were turned down.

“After that, we asked if we can take an examination, but again, they said no,” the source said. “They said that we should hand in an apology letter first, so we did. But the exam they gave us was still a take-home exam [and we were not allowed to go to school].”

The students raised their concern with the Department of Education, which sent lawyers to help them get documents that they needed so they could transfer to other schools. —REY ANTHONY OSTRIA