‘No homework’ bill filed at House

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker is pushing for legislation that will impose the “no-homework policy” in all primary and secondary schools in the country.

In House Bill 8243, Tutol To Win party-list Rep. Sam Verzosa explained that “there is very little, if any evidence, that time spent on homework in most subject areas has a positive effect on the achievement” of students, citing various publications.

Verzosa noted that based on the World Population Review, the Philippines ranked 111th of 199 countries, with an average intellectual quotient of 81.64 – far from the global average IQ of a person, which is 100.

Based on the Program for International Student Assessment’s 2018 assessment, the Philippines scored lowest in reading and second lowest in science and mathematics.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies stated that the country still has “high attendance rates at all levels of the education system compared to countries of similar development state.”

Verzosa said the findings could be interpreted to mean that an “average Filipino student spent more time in school, but less productively than their counterparts in comparator countries.”

The bill indicated the country needs to increase the learning productivity in school and reduce homework.

The lawmaker also cautioned that having too much homework causes stress and physical health problems.

He pointed out that having too much homework could also be a factor why, according to the Department of Education, the country had 404 cases of suicide and 2,147 attempted suicide by students in the last school year.

“The optimal amount of time (that should be spent) on homework is 90-100 minutes daily, and once that threshold is passed, the time spent and the amount of homework stop being effective and end up being detrimental,” Verzosa’s bill stated.