Education not purely academic

THE recently filed Senate Bill (SB) 966 or the proposed “No Homework Policy” for both public and private schools authored by Senator Grace Poe and House Bill (HB) Nos. 3611 and 3883 of

Deputy Speaker

Evelina Escudero and

Quezon City Representative Alfred Vargas, respectively, continue to evoke varied reactions from teachers’ groups, parents, and students.

SB 966, however, allows teachers to give “minimal” homework during weekends, which would only require less than four hours for students to accomplish.

HB 3611 would also keep students from carrying heavy bags on and off campus as they could only just deposit their textbooks in school.

Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones also backed the “No Homework Policy”, saying that homework cannot prove the effectiveness of the country’s educational system and that there are no guarantees that the kids themselves do the assignments at home.

Thus, she urged more discussions be made within the classrooms to develop the students’ analytical thinking and that assignments or projects be done inside the school.

Antagonists of the bills claimed that homework should not be seen as a burden but as an avenue to instill discipline and responsibility among learners.

We laud these initiatives of Senator Poe and Representatives Escudero and Vargas. It’s about time that we think of the welfare of the students since education is not purely academic. Life experiences, too, are great teachers.

Several hours spent in school each day for five days a week already take a toll in the students’ physical and mental health. Thus, time for homework could be maximized for sports and recreation, music, leisure, and family or social bonding. Students, sans assignments at home, could have more time for sleep, which is vital for growing children and teens, thereby making them more energized and more productive for the daily rigors in school.

Some claim that with the absence of homework, students might only be more addicted to their gadgets. Well, parents can do a better job in regulating their gadget use. Discipline, after all, starts at home.