ILOILO City – If House Bill 388 becomes a law (No Homework on Weekends Act of 2019), elementary and high school teachers would be prohibited from giving their students weekend homework or assignments.
If teachers violate the prohibition, they will have to have pay a fine of P50,000 and even serve time in jail for up to two years.
A father of five, journalist Joel Franco is against the proposal. Homework is a part of the learning process, he said.
According to bill proponent Cong. Alfred Vargas of Quezon City, homework is a burden for children and parents.
But according to Franco, “It’s not the homework that alienates students from their families and friends, it’s the gadgets.”
“Homework diverts kids’ attention from unimportant activities. We might be producing a lazy generation for being too loose on the youth,” said Franco.
House Deputy Speaker Evelina Escudero filed a separate bill with the same intent as Vargas’. Her House Bill 3611 promotes a no homework policy from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and also bars the taking of textbooks out of the school from Kindergarten to Grade 6 in all public and private schools.
Section 6 of the proposed measure requires schools to have lockers for the storage of students’ books.
Government information officer and mother Perla Lena of the Philippine News Agency said take-home assignments for children are okay.
“Kay obligasyon man sang ginikanan nga i-follow up anak nila. Indi tanan sa eskwlehan,” said Lena.
She suggested that homework be done as “a form of bonding, pero siempre indi parents ang maobra sang assignment.”
Department of Education (DepEd) secretary Leonor Briones expressed support to the proposed no homework policy.
“We want all formal study, assignments, projects, whatever, to be done inside the school. When the students get home, they will have free time to be with their parents, friends. When I arrived at the DepEd, we made that a policy. But some schools have been used to giving homework,” said Briones.
DepEd Region 6 assistant director Victor De Gracia confirmed this. But he had some reservations.
“Basi magtinamad ang aton mga kabataan kag mawili na lang hampang computer. Indi ma-develop ang ila study habit which they need kon magkolehiyo,” said De Gracia.
De Gracia stressed the important role of parents in training their children to be responsible and instilling discipline in them.
“Ang parents mismo dapat i-train nila ang ila kabataan nga indi magtinamad. Mangin responsable, indi nila pag i-spoil. Tudloan sang disiplina nga kabalo man mag-obra sang mga household chores, maghimo sang mga decisions nga kaya n’ya man, indi lang magsalig sa ginikanan,” said De Gracia./PN
Mr. Franco is against the proposal and he’s right on the mark. “Homework is a part of the learning process,” he said. According to Franco, “It’s not the homework that alienates students from their families and friends, it’s the gadgets.”
Sir, you’re absolutely correct on both counts. Get off your Facebook and video games and actually read some books.
It’s beyond belief that a legislator is proposing to put teachers in jail for two years for violating this insipid law if passed. Can you imagine a teacher being dragged out of a classroom in handcuffs for giving out homework?
Aren’t there better issues that need to be addressed?