(Eagle News)–President Rodrigo Duterte has signed a law that requires schools to have desks suited for both right-handed and left-handed students.
Under Republic Act No. 11394 or the Mandatory Provision of Neutral Desks in Educational Institutions Act signed on August 22, educational institutions, both private and public, should provide for the “neutral desks” equivalent to ten percent of the student population.
Under the law, this should have been done within one year from the effectivity of the measure.
Senator Edgardo Angara, author of the measure in the Senate, lauded the passage of the bill into law.
He noted that the “struggle” of left-handed students was “real,” as “many of them end up suffering from back, neck and shoulder pain when they force themselves to use the standard-issue desks.”
Angara said studies have alao shown that left-handed students tend to write slower when using right-handed desks, “thus leaving them at a disadvantage during timed examinations.”
“This is now one less problem on the plate of left-handed students. We thank the President for signing this bill that we authored into law,” Angara said.
