The resumption of classes after the Christmas break has raised concerns among teachers, as many classrooms are expected to remain mostly idle until Friday, Jan.3, due to low attendance of students.

Classes in public schools officially reopened on Jan. 2 after almost two weeks of Christmas break. However, many students were absent in several schools nationwide, based on monitoring by the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC).

“May klase pero halos walang tuturuan (There is a class, but almost no one to teach),” TDC said, noting that many teachers faced challenges in delivering meaningful lessons due to low attendance.

According to the calendar issued by the Department of Education (DepEd) for School Year (SY) 2024-2025, the Christmas break in public schools started on Dec. 21, with classes scheduled to resume on Jan. 2.

Earlier, teachers, students, and parents requested that the start date be moved to Jan. 6.

Reports gathered by TDC showed that “student attendance was extremely low” on the first day of classes for 2025.

According to reports received by TDC, only a few classes had attendance levels exceeding 50 percent.

“May mga ulat pa nga na isa, dalawa, o tatlo lamang ang pumasok, at mayroon ding mga klase na walang estudyanteng dumalo (Some reports even indicated that only one, two, or three students attended, and some classes had no students at all),” TDC said.

While TDC acknowledged DepEd's reasoning, as the 2024-2025 school year is a transition year back to the old school calendar, from June to March, the group emphasized the importance of “rationalizing this decision.”

“Base sa ating karanasan, mas pinipili ng mga bata at magulang na hindi muna pumasok pagkatapos ng pagdiriwang ng Bagong Taon, lalo na kung ipit ang araw (Based on our experience, students and parents prefer not to attend school right after the New Year's celebrations, especially when school days are too close to the holiday),” TDC said.

“Kaya’t maraming mag-aaral ang pumapasok na lamang sa susunod na Lunes (As a result, many students end up attending classes the following Monday),” TDC added.

Given this, TDC noted that the classes held on Jan. 2 and 3 were “nearly rendered ineffective.”

To prevent this situation in the future, TDC called on DepEd to address the issue.

“Kailangang isaalang-alang ang pagtatalaga muli ng mga buffer days sa mga darating na school year, gayundin ang pagkakaroon ng mga academic health breaks na hindi lamang para sa mga mag-aaral kundi para rin sa mga guro (There is a need to consider reintroducing buffer days in upcoming school years, as well as implementing academic health breaks, not just for students but also for teachers),” TDC added.