MSU to exercise academic leniency for students affected by bomb attack

MANILA, Philippines — Following a bombing incident on its campus on December 3, the Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City is permitting its students to receive an incomplete grade and an additional semester to fulfill their academic requirements.

MSU’s Board of Regents (BOR) said that it has instructed MSU President Basari Mapupuno to implement an academic adjustment policy to give the students a chance to address their mental health concerns in the aftermath of the attack.

“Students who are distressed and traumatized, [e]specially those who underwent counseling and who feel they cannot continue their studies, will be given a non-numerical grade and another semester to complete their requirements,” Commission on Higher Education (Ched) chair J. Prospero de Vera III said in a statement on Tuesday.

“We need to address the mental health situation of the students,” he added.

Furthermore, De Vera said MSU will likewise help students who receive scholarships from the government and other organizations by sending a formal letter to those institutions to make sure the students’ scholarships won’t be affected.

Students who were given scholarships by the university will also be given consideration, the university president noted, saying that he will “relax the rules.”

Classes at MSU-Marawi have resumed and around 1300 students have returned to the campus for face-to-face classes.

CHED assured the public that it would offer extra financial aid to the students affected by the blast by including them as Tulong Dunong beneficiaries for the school year 2023-2024.

In a video message a few days after the incident, Mapupuno encouraged the MSU community to “stand up and aid MSU to move on from what had happened” and to not let grief debilitate them.

READ: ‘MSU returning back to normal but on high alert after bombing’

The blast at MSU-Marawi claimed four lives and injured scores of civilians, most of whom were students.

On Friday, one of the three suspects in the fatal attack was arrested in Marawi City while the other suspected bombers remain at large.