STUDENTS of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines raised a storm of protest against the decision of the university to limit a student to one mode of learning.

The university earlier announced that students cannot shift from one mode of learning to another, meaning that those placed on modular learning cannot shift to online and vice versa.

The office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs said that students were classified based on their answers to a survey held in June. Those who said that they have Internet at home were placed under the online delivery mode, while those without gadgets or internet connection were placed under modular learning.

Protesting students however said that ‘a lot has changed’ since the last survey. They noted that some opted to work while studying to afford an internet connection at home, while some were “mistakenly categorized” under a different mode of learning.

“HOY TINANONG NYO LANG AKO KUNG MAY DATA AKO O WALA TAPOS NGAYON MODULAR NA AKO,” “4 MONTHS NA NAKALIPAS SIMULA NUNG NAGPASURVEY ANG PUP. SA LOOB NG APAT NA BUWAN NA YON MARAMING NAGBAGO,” “MISTAKENLY categorized under modular mode,” “Grabe nagtrabaho ako para lang makasabay sa online class pero mapupunta lang ako sa modular?” were some of the sentiments the students shared online.

Based on the open survey conducted by the Office of the Student Regent, thousands of students of PUP want a combination of the online and modular modes of learning.

They said that self-paced learning accompanied by webinars with their professors would be the best option to understand their lessons well, especially on highly-technical subjects.

Some students also questioned if PUP’s distance learning is truly flexible, lamenting that they feel ‘chained’ to only one mode of learning.

The Catalyst, the official student publication of PUP, said the list of students who will receive modules had been sent to courier companies.

Classes in PUP will start on October 5, 2020, using the ‘Flexible Technology-Enhanced Learning’ scheme.