THE COLLEGE of Science has trimmed the number of school days to four in a week in a bid to address classroom shortage.
Science Assistant Dean John Donnie Ramos said the new four-day schedule was introduced in the second semester under a pilot test to accommodate the large number of students.
Ramos said there were three reasons why the college switched to a four-day schedule from the previous five-day scheme.
“First, we lack classrooms because the Faculty of Civil Law took one of our classrooms; second, we now use laboratories as lecture rooms; and third, the biology department added another section this school year,” Ramos said.
UST’s Biology program has seven sections in the first year.
A survey conducted by the dean’s office in the first semester showed that 59 of 78 faculty members agreed with the new schedule. A total of 303 out of 476 students surveyed also agreed with the four-day scheme, along with 95 of 139 parents.
Ramos, however, said the college will still conduct surveys in January to see if the new schedule should be continued up to next school year.
Some students interviewed by the Varsitarian said the drawback in the four-day schedule is that many classes are squeezed in just one day, resulting in late dismissals. Some classes even extend to seven in the evening.
But Ramos said this new schedule gave students an additional day of rest.
“The main reason behind this new plan was to spread more classrooms to the College of Science population. The free time it would give the students and professors is just a bonus,” Ramos added.
For Biology sophomore Raphael Santos, the new schedule would be a hassle for some students.
“It’s difficult because of the late dismissals. It would probably be better if it was implemented in our third or fourth year since we don’t have NSTP (National Training Service Program) and [physical education] courses anymore,” Santos said.
Echoing Santos, Psychology sophomore Diah Ramos said squeezing classes in just one day was exhausting, but added it gave her three rest days in a week.
“At first, I didn’t like the idea … But looking at the bright side, now I can recharge my mind and body three times a week,” she said.
Science professor Maria Carlota Decena said the new schedule entails a major adjustment for the faculty since it covers Saturdays, which she said was intended for personal matters.
“For me personally, I don’t see any problems since I teach at the Graduate School during Saturdays. But for some professors in our department, it would mean a major adjustment to them,” she said.
Don’t accept students more than the means you have. We pay for quality, not quantity. A cramped up schedule is not conducive for learning. Lab rooms are for lab. Lec are for lec.
“we now use laboratories as lecture rooms” LOL, as an Arts and Letters incoming Senior back in the summer of ’95 who “had” to take a 5-unit Science Course at the College of Science, all those mornings having our CHEM 301 Lectures in the same Lab as for Labs gave the impression that this was some sort of long-standing practice. Learning Chemistry matters sitting on a CLASS room’s desk-chair can be tedious enough. Doing the same while hunched over on a LAB stool for three hours each day is an achievement in itself. Why we never had Lectures in one of the VACANT Science Classrooms below the Labs, I’ll never understand. Oh wait, I do. It’s called “Resource Mismanagement Disguised as an Efficiency Practice”.
I graduated from the College of Science just last week and I experienced that new class schedule. I think we just got used to it. Sa dami ba naman ng ginagawa namin, pagtutuunan pa ba masyado ng pansin yung class schedule? But still…I think the problem lies with Saturday classes. Sana either M-Th and T-F na lang yung sched then pag Wed, 3 hours straight yung easier subjects. Then, the Bio Department should revert back to 6 sections per level or BETTER yet, just have 5 sections like Psychology. They take up most of the classrooms as well as the laboratories. Another idea, have a new building to adequately house Pharma, Sci and Law, and make the Main Building a museum!
Our college of science batch had more students back then (2005-2009) I remembered in my first year, BS bio had 8 sections and BS Psych had 6 sections. The lower batches had less sections. And yes, we hated taking social science classes in the chem lab where we had our urinalysis experiment. It’s so hot and humid in the labs, many constantly cut classes because of that.