EDUCATION
Students call for #SHSQCDOBETTER, demand for representation, action
by Sofia San Pablo
Posted on December 17, 2020
High school students from the School of the Holy Spirit of Quezon City (SHSQC) called for their school administration to “do better” in answering the students’ call to ease academic requirements to better cope amid the pandemic.
Photo by the SHSQC Senior High School Department
In an online survey asking how SHSQC students are coping, the majority of the students stated that the school’s discontinuation of key extracurricular activities disabled the students from coping as best as they could under the remote learning set-up.
SHSQC administration removed other extracurricular activities including student clubs, intramurals, and the Buwan ng Wika celebration.
This was done in hopes of lightening the students’ load and encouraging them to focus on their academic requirements.
According to the students, this mostly served to limit their creative freedom in the school.
Meanwhile, the Council of Leaders (CoL), which serves as the school’s student council, was dissolved and resulted in the lack of student representation in dealing with school matters.
Students cited difficulties in raising their concerns due to the absence of the CoL.
With the lack of student representation, the issue regarding a male faculty member who was recently exposed online for preying upon several students since his employment in the school, was put in the background and any action by the school administration is still yet to be done, the students said.
Last June, SHSQC along with other all-girls Catholic schools were put under the spotlight for being home to several alleged predatory and derogatory faculty and staff.
In an online protest, students shared their stories and called for their respective schools to take action and do better to address the victims’ concerns and hold the perpetrators accountable for their actions. #