EDITORIAL CARTOONING/EDITORYAL

'No-homework' policy bill filed in Senate

(Philstar.com) - August 28, 2019 - 5:21pm

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Grace Poe filed a Senate bill banning teachers to give homework or assignments
to students on weekends.

The senator authored Senate Bill 966 or the proposed "No Homework Law."

"All primary and secondary schools in the country shall not allow teachers to give any network or assignments
to students from Kinder to Grade 12 on weekends," the bill read.

Under the proposed measure, teachers may only assign homework to students on weekends provided that it
be minimal and will not require more than four hours to be completed.

Poe stressed that the "no homework" policy on weekends will be applied to both public and private schools.

In the Senate bill, Poe pointed out that the state is mandated to safeguard the welfare of teachers and school
children.

Citing a study from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Program for International
Student Assessment, the senator noted that additional time spent on homework has a negligible impact on the
performance of students. This is after around four hours of homework in a week.

"Further, it looked at homework hours around the world and found that there wasn't much of a connection
between how much homework students of a particular country do and how well their students score on tests,"
the bill read.

Similar proposals have been filed at the House of Representatives earlier this week.

Rep. Evelina Escudero (Sorsogon) and Rep. Alfred Vargas (Quezon City) have filed separate measures
banning the giving of homework to students on weekends.

The DepEd welcomed this no-homework policy proposal from lawmakers.

"We want all formal studying, assignment, project, whatever, to be done inside the school," Education
Secretary Leonor Briones said in a radio interview Tuesday. — Patricia Lourdes Viray

DepEd pabor sa panukalang pagbabawal ng 'homework' tuwing Sabado, Linggo

MANILA, Philippines — Ikinatuwa ng Department of Education ang suwestyong pigilin ang pagbibigay ng mga
takdang-aralin sa mga estudyante mula pre-school hanggang sekundarya.

"Ang gusto natin, lahat ng pormal na pag-aaral, assignment, project, whatever, gagawin sa loob ng
eskwelahan," sabi ni Leonor Briones, kalihim ng Edukasyon sa isang panayam sa radyo Martes.
Ito'y kaugnay ng inihaing House Bill 3883 ni Quezon Rep. Alfred Vargas at HB 3611 ni House Deputy Speaker
Evelina Escudero.

Sa bill ni Vargas, pagbabawalan ito mula elementarya hanggang hayskul habang pagbabawalan naman ng bill
ni Escudero ito mula kindergarten hanggang ika-12 na baitang.

Kaiba sa panukala ni Escudero, nais patawan ni Vargas ng P50,000 multa at isa hanggang dalawang taong
pagkakakulong ang mga teacher na lalabag dito.

Layunin daw nitong madagdagan ang oras ng pahinga at pakikipag-usap sa magulang ng mga bata at tuwing
weekends.
"Pag-uwi nila, libre na sila, free time nila to be with their parents, with their friends," paliwanag ni Briones.

Maliban sa dagdag na work load habang walang pasok, pagbabawalan din ng HB 3611 ni Escudero ang
pagpapauwi ng mga aklat sa batang kinder hanggang ika-6 baitang.

Saklaw nito ang parehong pampubliko at pribadong mga paaralan. — may mga ulat mula kay Gemma
Garcia at The STAR