Amid calls to revert to the pre-pandemic school calendar, the Department of Education (DepEd) said that the proposals related to this are still being studied. (ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN)

“Hindi pa tapos yung pag-aaral tungkol diyan, kung ibabalik or hindi (The study on this is not yet completed, if we will bring it back or not) so I cannot say for sure,” DepEd Undersecretary and Spokesperson Michael Poa said on Friday, May 19, said. Poa, on the other hand, noted that if DepEd decided to revert to the old school calendar, it will not be implemented immediately. “Kung ibabalik man, hindi yan kaagaran because if we do that, hindi magkakaroon ng break ang ating mga learners at teachers (If we decide to bring the [old school calendar back], we cannot do that immediately because there will be no breaks for learners and teachers),” he said. Calls to revert to the old school calendar resurfaced due to the extreme heat experienced by teachers and students in public schools during the dry season. However, Poa pointed out that there are “several things that we have to consider right now.” He noted that if DepEd brings back the April-May break, concerns about the safety of students during the rainy season will emerge. As an intervention, Poa said that school heads have been directed to implement Alternative Delivery Modes (ADMs) if the situations in their respective schools are not conducive to face-to-face classes. “Right now, we have what we call the alternative delivery modes wherein if it’s too hot in a schools, they can switch to ADMs,” he explained in a mix of English and Filipino. Currently, Poa said that DepEd is monitoring if this is being implemented at the school level. “We noticed that there’s no one-size-fits-all, every region has strategies in terms of ADMs so we just want to make sure that it is being implemented,” he explained. Poa noted that school heads need not ask permission from their respective Schools Division Offices (SDOs) to implement ADMs. “Hindi nila kailangan magpaalam, ang kailangan nilang gawin (They do not need to ask permission, what they need to do) is i-implement na and they just report after for monitoring,” he said.

Resolve the issue

In a statement issued May 18, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) - National Capital Region (NCR) Union urged DepEd to decide on calls to revert to summer school break as “negative impacts” of classes during dry season emerge. From May 4 to 15, ACT NCR Union conducted an online survey on the learning situation during the hot months. The said survey was participated by over 5,000 public school teachers in Metro Manila. Based on the survey, the Union noted that 86 percent of the respondents said that the heat in their classrooms is “intolerable” as 75 percent handle classes composed of 36 to more than 60 learners. Citing the response of 87 percent of the respondents, ACT - NCR said that “the inconducive learning environment also resulted to learner’s lack of focus on their lessons.” As the end of the current academic year nearly approaches, ACT-NCR Union also impelled the DepEd to issue its resolution on proposals calling for shifting to the old academic calendar. The group once again urged DepEd to “avoid relying solely on blended learning as the default solution for all education problems as the modality largely contributed to the current learning crisis the agency is striving to resolve.” Instead, ACT called on DepEd to focus on building adequate classrooms, hiring more teachers and education support personnel, providing necessary resources to improve learning conditions, and setting a school calendar that is “most favorable to learning.”