Another bochazo and new request for a meeting in medicine with authorities / ig
At the UNLP School of Medicine, things started in the second semester close to where they had left off before the winter break. Or a little lower: no one reached the minimum grade to pass an exam in the subject of Infectious Diseases, which is taken in the fourth year, they denounced from the Student Center.
The commotion for 100% bochados is chained with another exam for the concern of two months ago in the same subject, with 90% of postponements among 180 students, an amount that, it is estimated, was similar to that of this new case . Also in those days the Anatomy C class registered 80% of disapproved among thousand first year students.
The situation once again puts the focus of attention on the academic failure in a faculty that drags a strong controversy around the quality of training combined with the sudden massiveness after the cancellation of the qualifying entrance exam and extended employment, beyond what it happens with other faculties, of the system of virtual classes. That is, without personal contact in the classroom with teachers, student peers and patients, crucial data for training.
In those days of June, where the first blow in Infectology caused a stir, similar results were also reported in Obstetrics.
“Again there were problems with the Infectology partial and we are claiming as a student center,” said Martina Novoa from the Remediar group. In those days, from the cloister the difficulties generated by access to the virtual platform where students take courses and surrender were raised. Also the lack of practice, for example, in Anatomy, where the allowances are accessed with preparations “an hour and a half every 15 days”, they counted from the Center. After that, weekly classes returned, as announced.
The student leader indicated that “we managed to get it resolved and take action on the matter in the first two months and now we continue to demand a meeting to raise this and that it not be replicated on the following dates in the recuperatories.”
For his part, Joaquín García, from the group Vientos de Abajo, questioned that “they handle very high levels of arbitrariness when it comes to correcting.”
According to what they told in the student body, the subject has a bimonthly course and this exam corresponds to the course of the second bimester. It is necessary to pass in order to continue advancing towards the fourth grade subjects and the following years, already in the final stretch of the degree.
Garcia indicated that “something similar happened in the first two months.” Thus, he considered that “it is a situation that responds to difficulties in the chair to guarantee a course modality that contributes to the students’ learning.”
Virtuality is not at stake here: “The subject was taught in person, with practical classes in hospitals, similar to how it was before the pandemic, but depending on the teacher you teach, you learn or not. From our point of view, we must review how the course is dictated”.
At the same time, the students indicated that “the evaluation criteria are not clear, with very broad questions that merit multiple answers. Then, the ones that are considered correct are very specific.” In short, he asked for “improvement” and considered that “it is not just passing. It’s being able to learn.”
In the midst of the controversy of the first semester, another piece of information for the controversy was known: the then head of the chair, the renowned infectologist Silvia González Ayala, was retired. The doctor, she clarified that she had not requested the beginning of the retirement procedures, as indicated from the leadership of the Faculty.