ATENEO de Davao University students vented their frustration on the school’s new memorandum moving the summer and first semester final exams through social media.

They started using the twitter hashtag #AdDUStrike.

The students claimed the school’s online learning primer stated that final summative assessments can be taken ‘either at the end of online classes or within the academic year the course has been enrolled in by the student’.

But in the latest Memorandum (No. 2020-18) released by the Office of the Academic Vice President Gina Lapaza-Montalan on November 17, it stressed changes in schedule is meant to help ease students’ final summative assessment backlogs.

“The low turnout of students able to take the final (SAs) in courses enrolled in Summer 2020 (28.7 percent) and in the 1st semester of AY 2020-2021 (9.63 percent) has resulted to a considerable number of students enrolled this 2nd semester who have overlapping final (SA) in courses taken in Summer 2020 and in the 1st semester,” the memorandum read.

The memo declared the schedules for the SAs are set from December 1 to 18, while SAs for the second semester are set at the end of March 2022.

The students, however, expressed they are caught unprepared with only two weeks of preparation left.

They also stressed the school earlier announced it will provide a six-week period for non-academic activities to recharge students for the new semester amid a tiring online class.

AdDU earlier said the new school year will be ‘flexible’ and ‘self-paced’, with university President Fr. Joel Tabora, assuring students have a say when to take the SAs depending on their readiness.

An emergency online dialogue was held between the SAMAHAN student government with the Assistant to the AVP for Online Education Fr. Ulysses Cabayao attending in behalf of the administration.

According to the report of Atenews, the university’s student publication, Cabayao admitted to the students he cannot personally act on the students’ concerns.

“No concrete plans were lobbied,” said SAMAHAN President Renz Lacorte, as he will try to speak to Fr. Tabora again and asked him for the most suitable date of the exams to prevent students from panicking.