No more cutting classes in Valenzuela’s modern campus

Parents in Valenzuela City need not worry their children would skip class with the installation of a new ID system in the city’s newest university.

Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian led the inauguration of the new Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Valenzuela (PLV) along Tongco street in Barangay Maysan on Friday night.

The city government spent P361.5 million for the construction of the 1.7-hectare campus.

Besides a fully subsidized tuition and miscellaneous fees, students would also enjoy access to school services using the PLV World card, a radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled card which, if tapped on the gate, would automatically inform the parents when their children go in or out the campus.

“Lagot wala na kayong takas! No more cutting!” Gatchalian said on Twitter where he posted a photo of the text advisory to the parents of their children’s whereabouts.

The ID also gives the students access to their online university records, class schedules and university advisories. It even serves as a discount card.

“Since we will be running three sites for PLV, it’s important for parents and the school administration to track down where our students are at any given time. This is for safety and at the same time to ensure that they go to their classes and do not cut,” Gatchalian said in a text message to The STAR.

The PLV card may also be loaded for cashless transactions with vendors in the campus. “This will assure the parents that students are using their baon (lunch money) properly,” Gatchalian said.

The high-end campus also provides high-technology laboratories for courses like mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronics and communications engineering, information and communication technology, materials testing, fluid mechanics, chemistry, physics, and even for speech communication.

“The new PLV campus is a state of the art, green campus. The campus-like universities abroad have a central quad and numerous pocket open spaces planted with trees. This will give students breathing and play space. This is important, especially for an industrial city like Valenzuela where seeing green spaces is a luxury,” Gatchalian said.