For teachers to have enough rest, a group on Friday, July 8, urged Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte to move to mid-September or early October the opening of classes for School Year (SY) 2022-2023.
The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), in a statement, said that the request to move the opening of the incoming school year aimed to ensure that the teachers will have enough rest before facing another school year.
“From the beginning, teachers are entitled to two months' leave, this is to give us enough rest, physically, emotionally, and mentally,” TDC National Chairman Benjo Basas said in a mix of English and Filipino.
Unlike other employees, Basas said that teachers do not have sick and vacation leave.
During the ceremonial turnover on July 4, the former leadership of DepEd announced that classes for the incoming SY will start on Aug. 22.
Without a memorandum or official school calendar, TDC is expected that the new DepEd leadership under Duterte will make the final announcement on the SY 2022-2023 school opening.
Basas, who is also a teacher from Caloocan City, noted that school activities are currently ongoing. Many of these, he added, are not yet “completed” such as graduation and completion ceremonies as well as reading of forms and preparation of documents for the performance rating.
In the next few weeks until August, Basas said that teachers will have to undergo in-service training, participate in back-to-school initiatives, and prepare for enrollment activities.
Teachers, Basas said, are also expected to facilitate and conduct remedial and enrichment classes before the classes for the incoming school year start.
With all these tasks for teachers, TDC noted that even if the class opening will be moved to September, a large part of the time the teachers should have spent their vacations on various activities will be compromised.
Early this week, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. --- citing Duterte’s plans --- announced that face-to-face classes will start in September while the 100 percent resumption of in-person learning is expected by November.
However, no formal announcements have been made by the Malacanang or by the new DepEd Secretary regarding the school opening date for SY 2022-2023.
Given this, Basas expressed hope that the Marcos administration “consider extending the school break further to give teachers a chance to rest and also have more time to prepare in schools, especially as we return to face-to-face classes.”
As per Republic Act No. 11480, the President --- upon the recommendation of DepEd --- may “set a different date” to reopen classes, especially during a state of calamity.
In SY 2021-2022, classes in public schools started on Sept. 13 and ended on June 24. However, classes in schools that implemented a two-week health break early this year were extended until July.