MANILA - A politician in the Philippines wants students to rest and recharge on weekends instead of doing homework, when they already spend some 10 hours in schools on weekdays.

To make that happen, Mr Sam Versoza, a member of the Philippine House of Representatives for Tutok To Win Party-List, proposed a “no homework law”, which aims to ban teachers from giving homework to elementary and high school students on weekends.

In 2010, a memorandum circular by the Department of Education advised teachers to assign just reasonable quantity of homework to public elementary school students on weekdays. No homework should be given on weekends, said the circular.

Mr Versoza’s proposed Bill aims to institutionalise this for all elementary and high schools across the country.

Since the 17th Congress – from 2016 to 2019 – lawmakers have tried to institute a no-homework policy on weekends.

However, such measures are still pending before the House Basic Education and Culture Committee.

In a privilege speech on Monday, Mr Versoza said students work extra hours to accomplish their homework.

In some instances, parents themselves would finish their children’s tasks.

“The Filipino youth are overworked and yet the Philippines is trailing behind other countries,” Mr Versoza said in his privilege speech.

He cited recent reports that the average intelligence quotient (IQ) of Filipinos was 81.64, while the global average IQ was 100. The Philippines ranked 111th out of 200 countries in terms of average IQ.

Alarming

“This is alarming and proves that the Philippines is in the middle of an educational crisis. If the system is not working, let us improve the system,” Mr Versoza said.

He noted that Finland, China, South Korea, Japan, and other progressive nations already cut back on giving homework to students and that the Philippines should consider this as well.

Mr Versoza said an hour of homework a day was “sufficient to achieve satisfactory results” and that increasing the number of hours for homework “may cause stress to students and their families”.

The lawmaker also pointed to the disparity between the rich and poor in completing school tasks.

“Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, internet connection, dedicated areas to do schoolwork, and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with their homework,” Mr Versoza said.

On the other hand, children from disadvantaged homes are more likely to take on after-school jobs, be at home without parents’ supervision, or take care of siblings instead of doing homework.

He also cited data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, which showed that the Philippines had the highest dropout rate among South-east Asian countries, with a lack of interest in school as one of the reasons cited.

“This only shows that school is not fun any more,” Mr Versoza said. PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK