PH Science High School divided over graduation of 6 scholars in online scandal
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Fri, 24 May 2019 10:00:24 +0000
THE Philippine Science High School System (PSHS) and its Board of Trustees have come under fire after allowing six male scholars to graduate, despite posting lewd photos of their female schoolmates online.
The outrage stemmed from a memorandum by the school’s Board of Trustees, allowing the six to graduate despite a recommendation by the PSHS Management Committee (PSHS-MC) on the contrary.
The PSHS-MC cited its Code of Conduct, saying “engaging in any form of voyeurism which includes the posting of indecent or lewd photos or videos on the internet” was considered a “Level III Offense,” which is defined as any act that willfully disregards PSHS rules that could result in “serious or material injury.”
In a statement released by the PSHS-MC on Thursday, it said that while the Board of Trustees concurred with the committee, the Board decided to recommend the erring students “eligible for graduation,” because it considered one Level III offense per student.
A Facebook page, titled BOTtledUp, was put up to raise awareness on the issue. A petition was also launched to urge the Board of Trustees to reconsider its decision.
The PSHS-MC Batch 2019 Council, in a statement, condemned the Board decision, saying that the actions of the students were clearly violations of the school’s administrative policies and that the dignities of the victims have been damaged, as a result.
“The evidence before the PSHS-MC Student Discipline Office has proven that some students were in possession of voyeuristic images of several female students, which were then uploaded and shared online without consent from the subjects of these images,” the statement read. “The victims testified that they were underage when their pictures were taken, and to reiterate, all pictures were taken without their consent.”
The PSHS-MC Student Council said in a statement on Thursday that the decision of the Board “weakens the protections that prevent sexual harassment throughout the entire PSHS System”.
On Twitter, outgoing Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino 4th, a member of the Board of Trustees, said that the matter has been raised for reconsideration.
“My representative raised the issue with me and the matter is now up for reconsideration,” he tweeted on Thursday. “We will vote in favor of the recommendation of the Discipline Committee and Management Committee, which is not to allow the identified students to graduate based on the degree of their offenses and previous decisions in similar cases.”
Apart from the PSHS Management Committee, the PSHS-MC Discipline Office, Discipline Committee, Management Committee, and Executive Committee have recommended against the graduation of the six students. ARIC JOHN SY CUA
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