OPPOSE THE RAILROADED ACADEMIC CALENDAR SHIFT! SCRAP THE SHAM INTERNATIONALIZATION PROGRAM!

We, the stakeholders of the University of the Philippines system are united against the railroaded academic calendar shift policy which will take tertiary education further away from the grasp of the Filipino youth. In its 1295th meeting last February 6, through a majority vote, the Board of Regents approved the pilot shift in the academic calendar, mandating the constituent units of the University system to move the start of their classes from June to August in the coming academic year. The approval was clearly railroaded, as it did not undergo any comprehensive consultation with the students the major stakeholders of the University; alongside the different sectors who were not given an opportunity to exhaust discussion and debates on the said policy. But this is not an issue of merely shifting the academic calendar. Deeper analysis of the policy will reveal that this will do more harm than good to the stakeholders of the University. First, the policy is based on a conundrum of lies and deceit. The UP administration is misinterpreting and distorting the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint (a plan to integrate the regions economy) to back-up their internationalization claim. They are making the shift palatable by projecting it as somewhat a magic pill to hasten our claims for internationalization. The ASEAN blueprint has not prescribed the harmonization of the regions academic calendars, but rather partnerships that will enhance the mobility of students and staff on the region. Shifting the calendar will not automatically increase the number of exchange students and adjunct professors in the University (a rather unscientific claim that is being pursued by the shifts proponents). A strong academic program and improved research facilities will be the deciding factor in encouraging students to study in a University and would forge better regional partnerships the real measure of internationalization. This can only be done if the government will invest heavily on State Universities and Colleges like UP. The harmonization argument is also belittled by the fact that almost 43% of our partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) all over the world do not have an academic calendar that starts on August.1 Second, it is disregarding the Philippine economic context, in light of a backward-agrarian economy most poor Filipino families are involved in. Rainy-season rice is mostly planted on the months of May and harvested around September to November.2 Most farmer households would have money just in time for the June enrolment, and the entire family is expected to help during the planting and harvesting months which will be impossible with the current proposal.
1 2

Based on a study by the Faculty Against Acad Calendar Shift (February, 2014). Roberts, G. M., D. David, F. P. Walter, and N. L. Rosamond, 2009: El NinoSouthern Oscillation impacts on rice production in Luzon, the Philippines. J. Appl. Meteor., 48, 17181724.

The month of August is also considered the dead season or lean months due to a sudden halt of planting and harvesting in the fields. This season is often called in Panay and Negros Islands as tigkiriwi, which means a face in severe pain in Hiligaynon: a sign for hunger.3 This establishes the fact that a significant number of the population wont be able to afford UP Education just because of the disruptive timing of the academic calendar. This, alongside the brutal reality that UP education is expensive enough, is contrary to the role of the University as a public service university, which aims to accommodate and provide quality education for poor but deserving students. Third, it will disrupt and threaten university courses that are based on the countrys weather patterns such as agricultural and marine sciences courses offered by our regional units. These courses can be dissolved due to the negative impact on instruction quality the shift might produce. Fourth, it will lead to rising operation costs due to the installation of additional ventilation (air conditioning units), maintenance needs and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure (water sprinklers, catwalks, etc). The rising operation costs, coupled with the yearly budget shortage and cuts by the national government, can only lead to additional fees that will be charged, yet again, from the students. Lastly, it does not answer the long standing problems of the education sector. The Filipino youths right to education is already being trampled, with State Universities and Colleges experiencing cuts on their annual budgets; inadequate funding for primary and secondary education; and private HEIs charging alltime-high tuition rates. Instead of handling such problems, the UP Adminstration has chosen to internationalize education by approving this shift leading to a downgrading situation of Philippine Education. We urge the members of the Board of Regents to rescind this approval of this policy as it does not have any solid empirical and logical bases. It clearly does not benefit anyone, rather, it will do more harm than good. We call on our Iskolars ng Bayan to show our united stance against this deceptive railroaded policy and fight against neoliberal policies in education. OPPOSE THE ACADEMIC CALENDAR SHIFT! NO TO COMMERCIALIZATION OF EDUCATION! WE ARE NOT FOR SALE! FIGHT FOR A UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE!

3Mongayo,

Karlo. In Tiempos Muertos: Why moving class opening to August is disastrous. Available at http://karlomongaya.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/in-tiempos-muertos-why-moving-class-opening-to-august-is-disastrous/. Accessed on 28 February 2014.