AT LEAST 130 professors from the University of the Philippines-Diliman have signed a petition to end the semester, saying the distance learning set-up and the recent calamities brought ‘unjust workload and mental burden’ to students and teachers.

“With only three weeks left to finish the semester, discounting the time needed to recover by those affected by the recent typhoons, the pressure to finish the remaining days of the semester has exacerbated to the point of inhumanity,” they said in their petition letter.

The professors claimed that the government’s insistence to open the school year and shift to distance learning discriminates against those who have limited access to gadgets and technology.

“Students and faculty alike are subjected to an unjust workload and mental burden on top of the anxieties that the pandemic has inflicted. In UP, teachers are compelled to finish the semester within a mere 13 weeks with little to no consideration for cancellations and breaks,” they said.

The group urged the university to stop giving additional requirements and release new policies such as a ‘pass or DRP’ grading system.

The signatories also called on the fast-tracking and augmentation of financial aid for faculty-graduate students, and the temporary suspension of the maximum residence rule.

“Lastly, we urge the UP administration to hold this government accountable for all its injustices and neglect that led to the magnitude of our affliction,” the petitioners said.

Meanwhile, a number of students from the Ateneo de Manila University were calling for an academic strike to protest the government’s response to the recent disasters and the coronavirus pandemic.

“We strike in solidarity with the students who are victims of calamities and of Covid19, who cannot be expected to catch up with their studies within three to five working days. From the beginning, no student should have been left behind,” the students said.

The GUIDON, the university’s student publication, said the petition for an academic strike has garnered more than 500 signatories.