Many students would agree that the school serves as their second home ; whether it be online or face-to-face , a significant part of their lives are spent within its confines . However , regardless of their satisfaction with the institution , La Salle Green Hills ( LSGH ) is not perfect , and its problems tend to rise to the point where students would need to voice out their complaints . This school year , the Student Affairs Central Body ( SACB ) launched a project aimed at helping students reach out their concerns to proper school authorities through the use of an official communication channel .
Launched on October 26 , 2020 , Speak Up was initiated by the Student Affairs Central Body or SACB as a way for the organization to fulfill its primary goals of proper student representation . Up until its launch , LSGH students had no easy means of voicing out their complaints and concerns to the school . Students would usually have to ask around the campus in search of proper channels , and even with that , there is no assurance there would be immediate feedback . This old process served as an inconvenience to many and would take a lot of time that could have been used in taking action on potentially serious issues within the school community .
Consequently , this led to the rise of the highly popular yet controversial LSGH Freedom Wall . The LSGH Freedom Wall was inspired by freedom walls of major colleges and universities in the country , wherein students are able to publicly share and submit their opinions and thoughts anonymously through a Facebook page . Although the Freedom Wall ’ s purpose was harmless at first , its lack of proper management and appropriate filtering led to users abusing the page with unnecessary , and at times , offensive posts targeted at the school and its community . For a time , it was tolerated since it was the only way to easily voice out problems , and be heard .
Fortunately , with Speak Up ’ s launch , the process of raising a complaint eliminated the red tape-like process by making use of Google forms for the concern to reach directly the proper authorities , as well as serving as a means to combat the use of the LSGH Freedom Wall . The process of Speak Up only requires the student ’ s basic information , selecting from several categories of concern including but not limited to academics , faculty , and student discipline , identifying if the submission of the person concerned is a standard or a sensitive one , and most importantly entering the concern or complaint itself .
With the process shortened , Speak Up paved the way for students to voice out their problems in a convenient and easy to follow manner . In a way , Speak Up could be regarded as a means to encourage students into pointing out any faults found in LSGH , especially considering the versatility of its format . Additionally , since Speak Up uses a constantly open Google form , students would no longer need to request time for an appointment just to speak out their concern , especially in cases that do not necessarily need a lengthy meeting with staff members or teachers .
With LSGH currently being in an online-based modality , and in a transitional period from
an exclusive all-boys system to a co-educational one , problems are bound to happen . In theory , Speak Up has
the potential to swiftly address these issues for current and future students alike . However , the effectiveness and success of Speak Up would only rely on the student population ’ s interest in speaking out the present issues and the administration ’ s ability in actually addressing the concerns .
The SACB ’ s recent project Speak Up serves as a proper channel for students to voice out the present problems and issues that they see as of present . Although it may ease the process of raising the concerns , addressing the concerns are another thing . The success of this project would rely on the students ’ active use and trust of it and , more importantly , the administration ’ s interest in actually addressing the complaints the students have .
19
STUDENT- LED INITIATIVES