THE PHILIPPINE government has approved a proposal to gradually return to the old academic calendar, as extreme weather events including extreme heat have been a major headache for the climate-vulnerable country.
The opening of classes will begin on July 29 this year and end on April 15, 2025, a presidential palace release said on Wednesday, to pave way for a “gradual return” to the old calendar, in which the school year begins in June instead of August and ends in March the following year.
The Department of Education in February ordered the start of the 2024-2025 school year on July 29. It was supposed to end on May 16, 2025.
Schools in many parts of the country had canceled classes in recent weeks amid extreme heat inside the country’s about 4,000 classrooms, which have been underfunded through the years and have failed to adapt to the changing climate according to civic groups.
The Palace, in its press release, said one of the two options presented by Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio to the President during a Tuesday meeting was compelling students to go to school on Saturdays to complete the 180-day school calendar, which Mr. Marcos rejected.
Another option reduces the number of school days to 165 as it does away with Saturday classes, but Mr. Marcos said that would compromise learning outcomes.
“Let’s just lengthen the school days, but let’s not touch Saturdays. So school days will remain the same,” he said in mixed English and Filipino during the meeting, based on the Palace release.
The school year 2023-2024 will end on May 31.
Over 7,100 schools had shifted to remote learning due to extreme heat as of April.
ACT Teachers Party-list welcomed Mr. Marcos’ decision but said “more needs to be done to address the long-standing problems plaguing our public education system.”
“We must continue to push for substantial reforms, including the hiring of more teachers, the construction of more classrooms, and the provision of proper ventilation in all learning spaces,” Rep. France L. Castro said in a statement.
We also need to take decisive actions to address the climate crisis, which is having a devastating impact on our education sector and our people’s lives,” she added. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
