VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte presented two options to President Bongbong Marcos in a recent meeting to revert to the old school calendar, which runs from June to March.
The first option consists of 180 school days with 15 in-person classes on Saturdays, while the second option includes 165 school days without face-to-face classes on Saturdays.
Classes for both options would end on March 31, 2025.
The president did not favor the 165 school days or the idea of having classes on Saturdays, a sentiment shared by the Department of Education.
“The DepEd’s proposal is to prioritize Saturday classes, which might be challenging to implement and would entail additional work for our teachers and even for our learners. DepEd’s perspective is that this approach may lead to fatigue and similar issues,” said Undersecretary Michael Poa, Department of Education.
“Pushing for March 31 for the school year [2024-2025] might make the school year too short, leading to a highly compressed schedule,” said Poa.
It has been decided that classes will still begin on July 29, 2024, as initially announced by DepEd for the 2024-2025 school year. However, instead of ending on March 31, 2025, classes will end on April 15, 2025, to complete the 180 school days.
“Definitely, April 15 will be the end of the school year 2024-2025, which is very close to the desired March ending,” Poa added.
There will be no Saturday classes, Poa said, but Catch-up Fridays for reading classes will continue.
For the 2025-2026 school year, classes will start on June 16 and end on March 31.
DepEd has been consulting teachers, parents, and other stakeholders about returning to the old school calendar since January of this year.
This is good news for parents.
“It would be better to revert to the previous setup where classes only go until March. With the current weather conditions, April and May can be extremely hot, reaching up to 51 degrees. This poses a danger to children, so during summer, they should just stay at home,” expressed Janice Famularcano, Parent.
“The previous schedule is better. Children nowadays get too hot,” Josefina Tumali, Parent said.
“There are many benefits. They won’t get sick or faint. Many children faint or feel dizzy, and school attendance is affected,” Tumali added.
“I approve. It’s good because of the temperature. Parents picking up their children in April and May suffer from the intense heat, especially the grandparents,” Demetrio Dalit, Parent stressed.
“What are the benefits, especially for students?) “They can enjoy their summer at home again,” Dalit added.
DepEd will issue a Department Order for the new school calendar.
DepEd to launch school-wide WiFi program for improved alternative delivery modes
With La Niña approaching, schools have the option to implement alternative delivery modes to reduce learning disruption and continue students’ education, according to Poa.
DepEd officials assured efforts to improve the implementation of alternative delivery modes.
“Now we are also enhancing our alternative delivery modes, starting with improving the internet connection and WiFi connectivity in our schools. We will begin this year with what we call the School-wide WiFi program,” Poa stated.
