By Merlina Hernando-Malipot  The Christmas break for all public school students formally begins on Monday, December 16, according to the school calendar issued by the Depart­ment of Education (DepEd). (MANILA BULLETIN) DepEd has scheduled an early Christmas break for stu­dents across all basic education levels in public schools na­tionwide this school year (SY) 2019-2020 in an effort to give both learners and teachers enough time to spend with their families dur­ing the holiday season. All students in kindergarten, el­ementary, and high schools in public schools started enjoying early Christ­mas vacation which was officially scheduled on December 15, Sunday. Based on DepEd Order No. 007 series of 2019 or the School Calendar for 2019-2020 issued by Education Sec­retary Leonor Briones, the Christmas vacation for public school will last until January 5, 2020 which falls on a Sunday. Thus, classes are scheduled to resume on the following day on Monday, January 6, 2020. The DepEd clarified that for pri­vate schools, their respective school heads and administrators are given discretion to schedule their own Christmas breaks. As cited in Republic Act No. 7797, “An Act to Lengthen the School Calendar from Two Hundred Days to Not More than Two Hundred Twenty Class Day,” private schools may “deviate” from the calendar prescribed by DepEd and inform the regional office (ROs) of any changes in schedule in their respective school calendars. In 2018, the DepEd also announced an earlier Christmas break schedule for public schools. In an earlier state­ment, Briones explained that the moving of Christmas break to an ear­lier schedule, or a week earlier com­pared to previous years prior to last year, was based on the suggestions of the Senate, the Executive, Congress, and the parents or guardians. Briones said the DepEd believes that the Christmas season “provides an opportunity for Filipino learners to strengthen their emotional bonds with their family.” Valuing the im­portance of spending quality time with the family, she also emphasized the “importance for students to spend more time with their families this Christmas.” For schools that might need to hold make-up classes or undertake Alternative Delivery Modes (ADMs) due to missed school days, DepEd reminded that the conduct of related activities “must be agreed upon by school heads, teachers, and concerned parents.” Make up classes are often implemented by schools to com­pensate for unplanned suspension of classes such as natural and man-made calamities. In the Implementing Guidelines on SY 2019-2020 School Calendar is­sued by DepEd earlier, schools are en­joined to “effectively and efficiently implement the school events and ac­tivities.” DepEd noted that guidelines will also allow the regional offices (ROs) as well as the schools division offices (SDOs) to provide support to schools – particularly in the areas of instruction, progress monitoring, and evaluation. DepEd said that all schools are also expected to observe national and local celebrations “provided that these are beneficial to the learners.” ROs may issue a “supplemental calendar to reflect their local events” if needed. SY 2019-2020 – which consists of 203 school days – formally opened last June 3 and will end April 3, 2020.