Holy Angel University (HAU) boasts of its mission to “offer quality education that transforms students into persons of conscience, competence, and compassion.” 

 

Yet, recent events prove that this statement is nothing but a contradictory facade, instead being a cradle of knowledge, HAU stands as a running field that puts students in a relentless sprint—making them struggle to keep pace with a rushed and uncompromising academic calendar.

 

The hurdles to students’ academics were highlighted especially during the week before the final examinations, which also happens to be the first week of official in-person classes for the final period for several colleges. During this time, students were bombarded with rigorous coursework despite them lacking proper understanding of their subjects.

 

The reason at hand could be attributed to the continuous suspension of in-person classes during the final period, given the recent college days celebrations as well as local feasts and various non-working days.

 

In those situations, HAU’s intervention, so as not to interrupt its demanding school calendar, was to conduct asynchronous and synchronous classes—even during non-working holidays, which were meant for the personal and family time of students.

 

Despite clamors from the student body since the earlier part of the academic year to revisit and revise the school calendar, students’ calls fell and continue to fall on HAU’s deaf ears.

 

For HAU, there comes no need to heed the call of the student body for leniency in the calendar, even if modules after modules in many courses are still left untouched.

 

Given that, how can the university possibly concretize its mission of “transforming students into persons of conscience, competence, and compassion” when students themselves cannot garner the knowledge that they are entitled to have?

 

Adding as hurdles to the already rough track, the end of the first semester on November 18 will immediately be followed by the second semester enrollment – which will run from November 27 to December 7.

 

The said period gives students little to no window to recover and prepare financially for the next semester, especially that another 14,500-peso downpayment, apart from their back accounts for the first semester, will be required for students to settle.

 

This reality makes the glaring contradiction more evident: how can the university “offer quality education” when many students are not in the immediate financial position to access their right to education given all the rush?

 

From those instances arise one truth—that HAU’s set policies, especially its academic calendar, have not only diminished the quality of learning, but transformed education into a race that not all can afford to participate in—an elusive privilege that is unattainable to many.

 

Instead of a rushed race towards the end of the semester, HAU should recognize that the provision of quality education goes beyond the mere completion of an academic year—it requires actual learning and leniency toward both the scholastic and financial needs of students.

 

Just like how HAU brags about its mission, they must also see the costs associated with its current policies that students are facing, such as those mentioned. Only then can the university truly provide quality education that empowers Angelites to be the most competent versions of themselves that the university aspires them to be.