'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
Teachers’ group urges lawmakers to withdraw bills seeking ‘no homework’ policy in schools
Published August 31, 2019, 1:54 PM
By Merlina Hernando-Malipot

A group of teachers urged lawmakers to withdraw the bills pushing for a ban on homework among learners,
and called on them to just leave the matters related to teaching to educators and the Department of
Education (DepEd).

Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) maintained that there was nothing wrong in giving students homework.
Contrary to the claims of the lawmakers in their respective bills, TDC National Chairperson Benjo Basas noted
that there were many benefits – for both learners and family members – when students bring assignments
home.

Earlier, House Bill No. 3611 authored by Sorsogon Representative Evelina Escudero was filed seeking to totally
ban homework for all learners from kindergarten to senior high school. The bill will also provide lockers for public
elementary school pupils where their books may be deposited, as the bill also intends to ease the burden of
carrying heavy books.

Meanwhile, House Bill No. 3883, authored by Quezon City Representative Alfred Vargas, also seeks to ban
homework for elementary and secondary students only during weekends. However, the bill has stricter
provisions as it criminalizes the act of giving assignments by imposing a penalty of a P50, 000-fine, or up to two
years imprisonment to teachers who violate.

The penalization of teachers under Vargas’ bill was strongly denounced by TDC and other teachers’ group.
TDC noted that the provision that seeks to impose a penalty of fine or imprisonment to teachers requiring
assignments during weekend was simply “unacceptable” since teachers already suffer from “low pay, heavy
workload and too many regulations.”

Soon after the bill was filed, Vargas announced that the provision penalizing teachers was an “honest mistake”
and a “technical error” which was already corrected with the House committee on basic education and
culture. He has also apologized to teachers who were greatly “affected by the mistake.”

Basas said that while Vargas has already apologized for erroneous inclusion of penal provision in his bill, the
group urged him to withdraw his proposal. “Apology accepted but we ask him to withdraw the bill and discuss
the matter with the representatives of teachers’ groups,” he added.

The TDC, Basas said, has already sent a formal request to Vargas’ office for a meeting. “His proposal to ban
weekend homework is actually being implemented now thru a DepEd memorandum since year 2010,” he said.
We believe that there is nothing wrong with homework,” he added.

Aside from the two bills filed at the Congress, Senator Grace Poe also filed a counterpart bill in the Senate. TDC
said that all these proposals aim to “promote physical, mental and psycho-social welfare of children and seek
to provide more quality time for their family.”

For TDC, these moves of the lawmakers seem to “assume the tasks and functions” of teachers and of the
DepEd. If not carefully studied, the group warned that it may curtail the teachers’ right to academic freedom.
“We maintain the position that specific rules such as homework for schoolchildren does not need a legislation
and instead should be left for the DepEd to decide,” the group said.