Citing pandemic, typhoons, UP body approves ‘no-fail’ policy

The highest policymaking body of the University of the Philippines (UP) rejected a petition signed by 15,000 students and teachers to immediately terminate classes, but decided to implement a “no-fail” policy for the first semester in light of the massive disruptions caused by recent typhoons.

In a meeting on Thursday, the UP Board of Regents (BOR) mandated the no-fail grading policy for the semester in consideration of the “high anxiety levels due to the pandemic and the impact of the typhoons, as well as the reality that the first semester is still a transition semester” for the new normal learning modes.

It decided to end the semester as scheduled on Dec. 9 “after due deliberation on the situation of faculty and students in the wake of the typhoon, and in the spirit of balancing divergent positions and interests of faculty and students.”

The decision, which would affect 40,000 students nationwide, was contained in a memorandum issued by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA) on Thursday afternoon.

Calibrate requirements

Faculty members were told to “calibrate their academic requirements,” and were banned from giving students a forced grade of “DRP” (drop), a “4” or a “5.” But students with missing or incomplete requirements as of Jan. 22, 2021—the deadline for submission of grades—will be marked “INC,” or incomplete.

In regular semesters, a “4” means a student would have to take a removal exam to pass the course. A “5” is a failing grade.

Despite these changes, UP will still implement a numerical grading system since the university is only two weeks away from the semester’s end. Some students also need numerical grades for scholarships, licensure exams and other scholarly pursuits, the memo said.

The Office of the Student Regent (OSR), the sole representative of the student body in the board, hailed the board’s decision as an “initial victory.”

At the height of the pandemic early this year, UP also implemented a no-fail policy for the second semester of school year 2019-2020 and applied a deferred “Pass” until May 2021 for those unable to complete course requirements by the end of that semester.

‘Legitimate clamor

The second semester for school year 2020-2021 will start on March 1, 2021, according to the OVPAA memo.

“More than 15,000 individuals signed our petitions from across the UP System and #EndTheSemUP trended at the top spot nationwide last night, showing legitimate clamor from our constituents,” the OSR said.

“It is highly notable that in only a number of limited days, student-led strikes and petitions were able to gather momentous support and solidarity from the UP community.”

One of the regents, Maria Aguiluz, a prosthodontics professor at UP Manila, was critical of the petition, saying on her Facebook page that mass promotion was “a prime example of creative laziness.”

Despite the rejection of their call to end classes early, some faculty members decided to terminate theirs to allow their students to recover from the pandemic and the devastation brought by the storms— Typhoons “Quinta” (international name: Molave), “Rolly” (Goni) and “Ulysses” (Vamco).