Bulacan high school students suspended for joining protest march

CITY OF MALOLOS – Twelve senior high school students of the Bulacan State University have been suspended for joining an August 6 protest rally led by college students, school officials said on Wednesday (Aug. 8).

The high school students, most of them girls, joined the afternoon assembly of college students at the campus to express their support for workers of a condiments factory, who have been in a deadlock with management over their employment status.

The high school students, still in their uniforms, marched with the group towards the Provincial Capitol and drew the attention of motorists.

Jocelyn Santos, the university’s senior high school coordinator, said the erring students were slapped with a two-day suspension after their parents were called to a meeting on Tuesday (Aug. 7).

Santos said the students violated Provision No. 10 in the Student’s Manual, which penalizes “disrespectful behavior or refusal to apply with directives of the university officials and employees acting in the performance of their duties.”

One of the suspended students said they were prepared for the consequences of their activism. “They are angry at us. But they should not think that we do not understand what’s going on in society even at our young age,” she said./lb