Probe ‘serious’ problems hounding Valenzuela school

Past and present students and teachers of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela (PLV) have asked Mayor Rex Gatchalian to look into alleged labor malpractices and repression on campus and hold accountable the officials “perpetrating such acts.”

In an open letter addressed to Gatchalian, the over 400 signatories denounced the “baseless” nonrenewal of a faculty member’s contract and the delayed release of teachers’ salaries among other “systemic and serious” problems hounding the city government-run university,

They claimed that teachers who had complained lost their livelihood.

Gatchalian, however, dismissed the reports about the late release of salaries, saying the city government had documentary evidence to disprove these.

He also downplayed the nonrenewal of a teacher’s contract, saying she had given her students a field assignment while Metro Manila was in lockdown due to the new coronavirus disease.

In an interview with the Inquirer, he reiterated that some former teachers who signed the open letter and were contract-based employees committed various infractions during their stay in PLV.

Various infractions

“Certain teachers have wanted to make it appear that this is more than performance in the school setting. They would rather make it appear as repression to free speech. But in my possession are various academic records that will show various infractions committed by former teachers. These infractions range from endangering students’ lives to absenteeism and [tardiness],” Gatchalian said.

The signatories also cited the school administration’s efforts to censor articles on sociopolitical issues in the official student publication, the PLV Chronicle.

“As if having [an] opinion on current events is evil, a number of students and teachers who dared speak [about] their views on social media have complained of being summoned either to the dean’s or the president’s office for reprimand or even threats,” they said.

“Treating students as products instead of active participants in their own learning, these officials contribute to the long-standing problems in our national educational system,” they added. INQ