To readjust the present school calendar from the August-June setup to the old June-March setup, the Department of Education (DepEd) is eyeing an “aggressive” approach, something that can be likened to cold turkey treatment; shave two months off next year’s school calendar.
DepEd said they are aware of what such a drastic change can do and are ready to make “compromises” including a possible shortened school break for teachers as well as an impact on their vacation pay.
"There has to be a compromise there... This year there are already two days compromised in teachers' (Proportional Vacation Pay), and they have already agreed to that. So we will see how far the compromise can go," said DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas in a Philstar.com report.
Calls to bring back the old school calendar have been going on for years after people realized what a mistake it was to include the hottest months of the year in the school calendar.
As mentioned in an earlier editorial, the August-June shift was done without much thought. Like the K to 12 curriculum, it was carried out just to fit in with what other countries were doing and without consideration for our own unique circumstances. But let that be water under the bridge; it’s good that the authorities now realize that they were wrong and now want to make corrections.
Better late than never.
DepEd should do whatever it takes to revert to the old school calendar as soon as possible. Given how Mother Nature has gone haywire --mostly because of our own actions-- we can’t actually promise this summer is the hottest, meaning it might get even worse next summer.
Studies have proven that learners can concentrate better and absorb more knowledge if they are in comfortable settings. In the Philippines that means rooms with low temperature in months that are relatively cool.
Considering how our learners have been doing very poorly in recent international study tests, we don’t want them squirming in sweltering classrooms, sweating as badly as the teacher is, and learning absolutely nothing at all for two months of the school year.