PUP seniors, parents protest ‘unfair’ exams

Senior accountancy students along with their parents staged a rally at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila, on Monday to protest a graduation requirement which they considered unfair.

Half of the 800 accounting seniors will not be able to graduate this year for failing the evaluation exams which were made part of their curriculum as a requirement for them to graduate.

Rommel Aguilar, PUP student regent, said failure to meet this requirement would in effect invalidate “all their efforts for the past four years” even after passing all their other subjects.

Aguilar said the accountancy students have been questioning the evaluation exams since these were introduced four years ago purportedly to help PUP post a high passing rate in the board exams and shed its image as a mere “factory” of accountants.

“But we should have other ways of ensuring quality students,” Aguilar said. ‘’(This) reflects the quality of our education. We lack facilities and other resources.’’

The students want the evaluation exams scrapped or at least have the passing rate lowered from 75 to 65 percent.