Students slam ‘cancellation’ of midyear classes in UP Mindanao

Originally posted: 2:42 PM June 23rd, 2016

Students of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Mindanao and youth leaders slammed the campus administration’s decision to “cancel” some of its midyear classes.

In a statement released last Tuesday, the youth groups said the UP Mindanao University Student Council (USC) was able to establish that the university allegedly failed to allot a budget for the summer classes and instead relied on its annual savings.

“We, youth and student leaders from various organizations around the Philippines, condemn the gross negligence and financial mismanagement of the UP Min Administration. The cancellation of the midyear classes is a violation of student rights and welfare. They were not consulted nor properly informed of a critical decision that has been proved to restrict the students’ access to quality education,” the statement read, adding that the honoraria for teaching loads in the past semester have not been settled by the administration.

But UP Mindanao Chancellor Prof. Sylvia Concepcion told INQUIRER.net that the courses not listed under the midyear term were subject to budget clearance and approval, “as the offering of additional courses has implications on the financial allotment for Personnel Services from which overload teaching honoraria of the faculty are drawn.”

“With the request for additional courses during the midyear term, the University conducted a budget review to consider the possibility of accommodating the students’ requests. However, the University issued a memo on May 31 that it would not be offering additional midyear courses this academic year,” Concepcion said in an email to this reporter.

“The University, through the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the University Registrar, also made representations with their counterparts in UP Diliman to accommodate cross-registrants from UP Mindanao upon their registration last June 9-10, 2016 in the bigger UP campuses,” she added.

The joint statement was signed by Pulos-UP Mindanao Akbayan Youth, Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, Bukluran-UP System, UPS-UP Cebu, Alyansa-University of the Philippines Diliman, AKMA-UP Baguio, Bigkis-UP Manila and PMB-UP Visayas.

‘No budget for midyear classes’

It was pointed out to the INQUIRER.net that parts of the said joint statement have been copied from the statement released by the UP Mindanao USC last June 4.

In the USC statement, the council said the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (VCAA) told them that “all requests to open specific subjects for the Midyear Term were approved by the office, but were disapproved by the Budget Office due to budgetary constraints.”

“The [officer-in-charge of the budget office] narrated that for the previous years, UP Mindanao has no allotted budget for Summer classes. Funds used for the previous years were just rechanneled from the excess funds (savings) of a fiscal year. The savings were said to be justified because the Second Semester of the previous academic calendar ends on March. However, the same practice was used even after the academic calendar shift. When the Commission on Audit reviewed the unit’s expenditures, the administration was reprimanded of this, declaring it as a misfeasance,” the statement read.

“VCAA added that honoraria for teaching overloads for the Second Semester of AY 2015-2016 were still unsettled. These were major factors to the cancellation of all Midyear classes. Although some deficiencies have already been existing since last year, the administration failed to inform the students. Lastly, the USC found out during the dialogue that UP Mindanao has no budget allotment for Midyear classes because the administration does not request any,” it added.

The USC demanded the administration to request sufficient budget to hold midyear classes annually, and urged President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to “fulfill his promise of giving the greatest allocation of budget to education.”

“Specifically, we demand that the case wherein an instructor is willing to teach during Midyear even without pay be considered,” it said.

‘Consultative governance’

With the “delayed announcement” of the cancellation, the youth groups said many students were forced to enroll at other constituent campuses of UP and had difficulties in securing slots in various subjects.

“For the long term, the administration must ensure sufficient allotment for this in their annual budget. For the immediate term, the administration must facilitate the enrollment of affected students in constituent campuses,” the statement read.

“For those who will not be accommodated, special classes must be secured by UP Min in other universities or by raising enough resources to provide honoraria to UP Min professors who are willing to hold classes this summer,” it said.

However, Concepcion said the requests for additional classes in the current midyear term include major courses “where students got failing grades or courses that students would like to take in advance.”

“Some of these courses, like Math 17 that is usually offered only during the first semester, had been offered in the previous two semesters. Students needing these courses can be accommodated during the regular semester of AY 2016-2017,” she said.

Concepcion noted that UP Mindanao is currently offering midyear courses “as reflected in the curricula of the different degree programs,” including practicum courses in BS Food Technology, BS Applied Mathematics, BS Computer Science and the field school course of the BA Anthropology program.

The USC called on the UP Mindanao administration to foster a “consultative, informative, and proactive” and not dictatorial governance by seeking the students’ side in policy making.

“We also call on the UP Mindanao community to intensify our struggle against the neoliberal policies that plague our university, policies that manifest extreme subservience to the dictates of capitalists, and policies that strip off the university’s public character. Through our collective action and undying perseverance, we must advance our clamor for full state subsidy,” it said. RAM/rga