MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 14 December)—The Mindanao State University’s main campus in Marawi City has moved all final examinations to January next year amid protests over the decision of the school administration to resume classes days after the bombing that killed four people who attended a Catholic Mass at the Dimaporo Gymnasium on December 3.
In a memorandum dated December 12 but released on December 13, MSU System President Atty. Basari D. Mapupuno scheduled the final examinations for Philosophy on January 3, Mathematics on January 4, Chemistry and Physics on January 5, and all other subjects on January 8-10.
The memorandum, which was posted Wednesday on the Facebook page of the MSU Marawi-Office of Information, said the schedules were recommended by the university registrar and endorsed by the vice chancellor for academic affairs.
“Moreover, schedules for thesis and dissertation defenses are also extended. However, hardbound copies for the same shall be submitted on or before the deadline for the submission of grades,” it added.
The deadline for the submission of grades for graduating students is on January 15 and for non-graduating students on January 17.
On Monday, December 11, MSU students staged a protest rally in front of the Ahmad Domocao A. Alonto Sr. Hall, urging the administration to make the campus safe first before forcing them to go back to the classroom. They were reacting to Mapupuno’s memorandum to resume in-person classes starting December 11.
At that time, law professor Rashid V. Pandi, who is also director of the university’s Presidential Management Staff, told reporters that Mapupuno’s memorandum has a “provision on special accommodation” for those “who may need debriefing and psychosocial intervention.”
He said those who are not yet ready “need not attend in-person classes.” He advised them to contact the campus’s psychosocial service center and avail of its services.
Pandi said the registrar’s initial decision, in consultation with the vice chancellor for academic affairs, was to postpone examinations in January.
The last day of classes is supposedly on December 19. But Many students left the campus hours after the bombing, and many more followed after several local government units in Mindanao sent vehicles to fetch and bring them home.
The MSU administration has acknowledged that 1,948 of the 14,855 enrolled students have left the campus. (MindaNews)