In commemoration of the death of Ninoy Aquino,yesterday August 21, was declared a national holiday by the President, Gloria Macapagal - Arroyo. Since it would be more convenient to most people, the non-working holiday was moved to today, Friday August 22, in order for the people to enjoy a long weekend. Even though schools and offices are supposed to be closed today, one school decided not to go against the announcement and to continue their regular school schedule today.

The school that I am talking about is the College of Saint Benilde. Yes, you heard me right, they have school today and unfortunately for them, they have to study and work while everyone else is out having fun and enjoying the three day weekend. Their reason for this is because they have already missed a lot of school days because of suspension of classes due to bad weather conditions and other non-working holidays. Today they decided that with the upcoming exam week, they can no longer afford to lose yet another day of school.

The students and even the faculty of CSB are not very enthusiastic about the idea of having classes on a holiday but unfortunately they have no choice because if they do not hold class today, they would still have to find time to make up for the missed classes. Although the school decided to have their make-up classes today, teachers were given the choice to make their class optional or they could even decide not to have class.

You could say that it is their loss deciding to have classes today. Looking on the bright side, though, they certainly are making the best out of the tuition fee that the students are paying.