MEMBERS of the Makabayan Bloc in the House of Representatives urged the Commission on Higher Education and the Department of Education to implement academic easing and no fail policy in all educational institutions because of the challenges posed by the Covid19 pandemic.

In House Resolution 1721, Kabataan Partylist Representative Sarah Jane Elago, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Partylist Rep. Arlene Brosas and Bayan Muna Partylist Representatives Carlos Isagani Zarate, Ferdinand Gaite and Eufemia Cullamat urged the education agencies to promote measures on leniency and remove unreasonable burden from students and teachers in the distance learning set-up.

These measures include relaxing of academic requirements, extension of deadlines for the submission of requirements and suspension of retention requirements.

“With the lack of a clear plan geared towards the gradual safe resumption of face-to-face classes in school campuses, students and teachers have not been conducting classes in school campuses for more than a year and have had to deal with the struggles posed by distance learning setup,” Elago said in a statement.

The group stressed that a year has passed since the remote learning set-up was implemented yet the same woes like poor internet connection and lack of gadgets, learning materials, and other resources continue to beset the education sector.

The lawmakers added that overworked teachers have borne the burden of filling in the gaps in the defective implementation of distance learning.

“Our teachers and students cannot be forced to function normally when they are grieving, recovering from physical or mental illness, and/or otherwise incapacitated by the appalling national situation, especially now that the latest Covid19 surge that reached record-breaking daily positive cases has left the country in an even worse situation a year into the pandemic,” Elago said.