In light of the implementation of its Basic Education - Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP), the Department of Education (DepEd) has issued an updated school calendar and interim policy guidelines for student grading and assessment for this school year.
Citing Department Order (DO) No. 30, s. 2020 or the School Calendar and Activities for School Year 2020-2021 as an amendment to the previously issued DO for the School Calendar SY 2020-2021, DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio that there will be a total of 205 school days for this SY.
The school calendar officially begins on Oct. 5, 2020 and will end on June 11, 2021. The Christmas break will start on Dec. 19 and the resumption of classes is scheduled on Jan. 4, 2021.
The agency also issued DepEd Order No. 31, s. 2020 or the Interim Guidelines for Assessment and Grading in light of the Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan. “This is to provide guidance on the assessment of student learning and on the grading scheme to be adopted this school year 2020-2021,” DepEd said.
The interim guidelines for student assessment and grading, DepEd said will be adopted in all public elementary and secondary schools nationwide for SY 2020-2021.
As cited in the DO, teachers “may continue to administer quizzes and long or unit tests as well as performance-based tasks.” Meanwhile, the performance-based tasks include skill demonstrations, group presentations, oral work, multimedia presentations, and research projects.
DepEd said that private schools, technical and vocational institutions and higher education institutions that are offering the K to 12 basic education are only “encouraged to follow” its assessment and grading guidelines.
Latest data from DepEd showed that there are 24,753,906 students enrolled in private and private schools nationwide. DepEd is encouraging parents to register their students since late enrollees will still be accepted until Nov. 21, 2020.
Public schools nationwide have an enrollment of 22.52 million students or 99.79% of last school year’s enrollment. Private schools have 2.17 million enrollees or 50.48% of SY 2019-2020.
DepEd has 61, 923 public schools and 233 division offices. Currently, there are 865, 448 teachers in public schools and 217, 386 teachers in private schools. DepEd also has 63,450 non-teaching personnel.