PARENTS of students of the Jose Rizal University strongly opposed the school’s decision to hold asynchronous or not simultaneous learning during the emergency maintenance of the Asia-America Gateway submarine cable system.

Parents took their ire to the school’s Facebook page and called for the suspension of classes.

The JRU earlier announced that online classes and all virtual instructional activities shall be done asynchronously from September 25 to 30, 2020.

While the telecommunication companies assured that there will be continuous internet connection during the cable maintenance, some schools like JRU opted to suspend virtual classrooms.

“In line with the service maintenance advisory of the telecommunications and digital service providers in the country, which will affect an estimated 45% of our students, online classes and all virtual instructional activities shall be conducted asynchronously from September 25 to 30, 2020. This ensures that teaching and learning mode addresses the best interest of all our learners,” JRU announced on Facebook.

The parents however said that the school should have suspended classes instead.

“Asynchronous?? Seriously? Call a suspension not this!” “It defeats the purpose of education,” “…our children will still need the net which for sure will fail for 5 days. Please be considerate,” were some of their responses.

The school however advised students to download the learning modules while they still have smooth internet connection.

Classes in JRU started on August 10, 2020.