UP reviews cases of 27 graduating students

BAGUIO CITY—University of the Philippines (UP) President Alfredo Pascual began reviewing the individual school records of 27 UP Baguio students whose graduation this week had been imperiled by a university error, UP Baguio Chancellor Raymundo Rovillos said on Monday.

These students completed the required number of units for their courses and were supposed to be among those taking part in the June 25 graduation rites. However, school officials discovered last month that they took the wrong general education (GE) subjects. The students were provided an old curriculum checklist and a new checklist mandated by a Revitalized General Education Program (RGEP) implemented in 2011.

The UP Baguio College of Arts and Communication (CAC) said the students were not guided properly by their advisers as to which checklist was appropriate for their batch. The CAC took responsibility for the error.

Six of these students would have graduated with honors and whose fate are now in the hands of Pascual, said Maria Cristina Cassandra Ralbovsky, one of the beleaguered students.

Ralbovsky said they appealed to Pascual after the CAC College Executive Board failed to convince the Baguio campus’ University Council (UC) to waive the GE requirements of all 27 students to enable them to join the graduation rites on Thursday.

The UC met on June 11 and June 19, but could not draw enough votes to issue the waivers.

Ralbovsky said the students gathered at the UP Baguio campus on Monday to await Pascual’s decision. But as of 5 p.m. on Monday, the students had yet to receive any information on their fate.

Rovillos said Pascual would examine the records of each of the 27 students to determine whether the wrong GE subjects taken by the students were sufficient replacements for the subjects mandated by the RGEP.

It was not clear if this process would be completed on or before the June 25 graduation.

Ralbovsky said UP Baguio offered the subjects that they failed to take for the midyear term (the equivalent of summer classes) and some of the 27 students have enlisted for these subjects as a precaution in case they fail to obtain the waivers.

Their appeal said completing the requirement and graduating after June 25 was an option, but the students said “this [avenue] would entail additional expense for tuition and board which would be an added burden on our families.”

“Also, for some of us who are expected to contribute to the family income, extending our schooling would mean lost opportunity,” the students added.

Some UP teachers also acknowledged on Monday that taking the extra subject could affect the grades that made some of the students eligible for honors. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon