Salute to the Supreme Court for innovative response to challenges in conduct of bar examinations (Sabong News)
Author
Manila Bulletin
Date
APRIL 18 2022
A total of 8,241out of 11,402 examinees passed the2020-2021 bar examinations, or 72.28 percent.This surpassed the 59.06 percent passing rate recorded in 2016 in which there were 6,344 examinees.
The manner in which the 2020-2021 bar examinations was conducted offers many lessons in governance and management; the reforms adopted also point the way forward to progressive education that is crucial in shaping the competence and character of those who would be in the frontlines of upholding the majesty of the law.
What are the significant takeaways? First, the importance of prioritizing the health and welfare of the examinees; second, the use of technology to facilitate the conduct of the examinations; third, the appropriate manner of giving recognition to the examinees who did well and gave honor to their schools.
Originally scheduled to have taken place in November 2020, the bar examinations were held on February 4 and 6, 2022 after a 14-month delay on account of the raging coronavirus pandemic. Strong typhoons also ravaged parts of Luzon and the Visayas.
Recall that a full year elapsed from the onset of enhanced community quarantine in mid-March 2020 to the arrival of the first COVID-19 vaccines in the country. In the interim, various levels of quarantine and lockdowns were imposed. The Supreme Court responded by localizing the venues of the examinations to 29 testing sites and 22 local government units, and adopting the use of digital platforms.
As reported by Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen, chair of the 2020-2021 bar examinations committee: “The reforms include the introduction of an honor code for bar examinees, the reconceptualization of the grouping of subjects, the reduction of the number of examination days, the full digitalization of the application process, the adoption of a platform that considered the gender identity of the examinees, and the crafting of gender-neutral examination questions, avoiding any patriarchal and unnecessary suggestive use of gendered pronouns.”
The foregoing reforms demonstrate respect toward the examinees and concern for their health and well-being at a time of extreme peril.
Another vital reform is the adoption of a paradigm shift away from the prominence given to the ‘Top Ten’ examinees and their schools. Justice Leonen pointed out the “recalibration of the grading system to avoid unnecessary competition for an artificial top ten, recognizing that the examinations are not a competition.”
Grades obtained by the examinees are categorized as “pass, exemplary pass, and excellent pass, without encouraging needless competition among individuals.”
Recognition to schools also focuses on the performance of “first-time takers and the number of those who passed as well as those that did so exemplarily and excellently.”
Moving forward, the 2022 Bar Examinations chair, Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa has announced that the exams will revert to being taken on four non-consecutive days within a two week period”. He emphasizes the need to “return to a necessary normalcy” while “rising from the strength of crucial reforms undertaken” in light of the pandemic and that the next exams would “fall back into its distinguished degree of rigor.”
