Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. eyes lighter academic load for elementary and junior high school students, hinting that home works are counter-productive for the children.
Revilla filed Senate Bill 1792, dubbed “No Homework Act of 2023,” meant to give the parents more quality time with the kids who could then engage in non-academic activities.
According to Revilla, take-home assignments lower the productivity and attitude of the students toward education, which in turn leads to more dropout rates and lower grades.
SB 1792 mandates that homework would be allowed only during weekdays, thus only no mandatory homework or assignments on weekends. The measure also provides that the students’ assignments must be minimal, should not require more than two hours to finish on voluntary basis.
The senator cited a 2009 study conducted by The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Program for International Student Assessment (OECD PISA) which indicated that the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on a student’s performance.
“Countries that have significantly reduced homework load on students expounds that there is a correlation between assigning more homework to students and increased level of anxiety that leads to low motivation in school work. The additional time allows the children to relax their mind, and increases their ability to better grasp concepts,“ Revilla explained.
The proposed law, according to Revilla, aims to institutionalize and expand the Department of Education (DepEd) Memorandum Circular No. 392, s. 2010, which provides guidelines on giving homework to all public elementary school pupils.
The circular is in response to the parents’ concerns about the amount of time pupils consume in accomplishing their homework, instead of having enjoyable and quality time with the family, Revilla said.