Shorter school year sought to allow return to old school calendar

MANILA, Philippines — A teachers’ organization is asking the Department of Education (DepEd) to shorten the next school year to allow the return to the old June-to-March schedule.

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) stressed the need to return to the old school calendar, citing the impact of holding classes during the hottest months of April and May.

“This school year, we had extreme heat in schools, a terrible ordeal for both teachers and students. Many fell ill. The heat spell forced many schools to switch back to less-desirable online and modular learning,” read the TDC statement.

“Classes were shortened for the same reason. All of these were implemented to mitigate the impact of the heat, aggravated by our congested, poorly ventilated and inadequately insulated classrooms,” it added.

The group noted that these alternative methods adversely affected learning, stressing that “there is simply no substitute for face-to-face classes.”

While the TDC acknowledges the DepEd’s previous commitments to study the matter, the situation calls for an immediate step to revert the school calendar back to the original schedule.

To do this without compromising the mandated school break for teachers and students, the group suggests a shorter school calendar for the next school year.

Based on the previous department order, the next school year is set to begin on Aug. 28 and end on June 28, 2024.

What the TDC recommends is for it to end on April 27, 2024, resulting in a total of 193 school days if asynchronous classes were to held every Saturday.

This shortening of the next school year will allow schools to open on June 17, 2024, almost the same as the old schedule that usually starts on the first Monday of June.

“In this scheme, the DepEd could ensure that by SY 2024-2025, we would have reverted to our old school calendar with minimal adjustments and without sacrificing the mandatory school break for teachers,” said the TDC.

Under the prevailing DepEd schedule, SY 2024-2025 is from Aug. 26, 2024 to June 27, 2025.

The group also recommended amendments to existing civil service policies to allow teachers to avail of leave credits or paid vacation or sick leaves to ensure that they enjoy the mandated 60-day break.

“We hope that this proposal from the collective wisdom of our teachers and school administrators will receive the proper consideration it merits,” said the TDC.

Earlier, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers also proposed the gradual return to the previous schedule by limiting the number of class days to 185 from the more than 200 days this school year.

Under its proposal, classes would open on Aug. 14 this year; July 29 in 2024; July 7 in 2025 and June 15 in 2026.