The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday, March 29, expressed openness to revert to the school calendar schedule before the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We will take note of the suggestions and study the matter,” DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa told reporters in a Viber message.
Earlier, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian suggested bringing back the April to May vacation in schools amid the dry season.
In a separate statement, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines also urged DepEd to revert the school calendar of basic education to its pre-pandemic schedule.
This after an online survey conducted last week showed how teachers and students in public schools suffer due to the harsh heat in classrooms during face-to-face classes.
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Prior to these suggestions, around 100 students in Laguna were hospitalized last week due to heat exhaustion after joining unannounced fire and earthquake drills.
“At the moment, there are no plans to revert,” Poa said.
This, he noted, is because “school heads have the discretion to suspend in-person classes and immediately switch to ADM [Alternative Delivery Mode] or Blended learning if the environment is not conducive to learning.”
Due to the pandemic, Philippine schools shifted to distance learning in School Year (SY) 2020-2021. Public schools also moved the school opening from June to October.
In SY 2021-2022, classes in public schools opened in September 2021. This SY, the schools opened in August.