MANILA, Philippines -- It’s truly TGIF for public elementary school students, as weekends from now on will be homework-free.
The Department of Education has barred public elementary school teachers from assigning homework on weekends so students could spend more time in play and with their families.
Issued on Sept. 16, DepEd Memorandum No. 392 orders teachers to avoid giving assignments to students on Friday, citing parents' complaints about the heavy weekend study load of their children.
“No homework/assignments shall be given during weekends for pupils to enjoy their childhood and spend quality time with their parents without being burdened by the thought of doing lots of homework,” said Education Secretary Armin Luistro in his memo.
The order was addressed to DepEd bureau directors, regional directors, school division and city superintendents and heads of public elementary schools nationwide. The memo covers more than 12.5 million students attending some 37,600 public elementary schools across the country.
Noting the amount of work that went into making assignments, Luistro's memo said teachers should give a “reasonable” amount of school work to be done in the home “to give their pupils ample time to rest and relax at home for the rest of the day.”
“Common homework/assignments may include a period of reading to be done and writing to be completed, problems to be solved and projects to be worked on, among others. The purpose of which is for pupils to increase their knowledge and improve their abilities and skills,” Luistro said.
“However, it has been observed that parents complain about too many pupils' homework/assignments, which rob themselves and their children's quality time to be together in more enjoyable activities,” the memo says.
But the Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC) disagreed, saying weekend homework afforded both parents and teacher occasion for quality time together.
“In reality, making assignments can turn into a bonding moment for parents and their children,” said TDC spokesperson Emma Policarpio.
She said teachers know how much work to give students for the weekend and said assignments were meant to “develop self-learning, self-discipline and time management” skills even without the supervision of teachers.
“The DepEd has good intentions for the memo... But teachers know what kind of assignments to give students—those that they can do on their own. Homework is not intended to burden children,” Policarpio said.
Monday, September 20, 2010
DepEd order: No more homework on weekends
