DepEd confirms plan to return to old school calendar

[Mike J]

Two years no face to face classes.  Catch up Friday was a bust.  No face to face for two plus months due to heat.  Plans to shorten classes next year to get back to a "normal" yearly schedule, but maybe some Saturday classes to make up for a shorter academic year.  Yeah, sure.  I feel so sorry for these kids who are being robbed of an education.  What a horrible $hit show.   And how can Areola say “This is the fault of nobody." 

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/13/deped-confirms-plan-to-revert-to-old-school-calendar-1618

MANILA — The Department of Education (DepEd) has confirmed its plan to revert to the old school calendar. 

In a meeting of the House basic education committee, Leila Areola, director of DepEd’s Bureau of Learning Delivery said the school year for 2024-2025 will start on July 29 and end on March 31, 2025 “so that the following school year, school year 2025-2026, we’ll already be starting the school year by June.”

Areola said the DepEd is considering conducting classes on certain Saturdays, still subject to consultation with parents, teachers and students “to cover some competencies that might not be covered with the reduction of the school year.”

“This is the fault of nobody. Sa totoo lang, talagang ang init talaga e, hirap talaga ang ating mga estudyante and teachers. Again this is good there is an aggressive push already by the Department of Education (to return to the old calendar,” House basic education committee Rep. Roman Romulo said.

Vladimer Quetua, chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, welcomed the decision to revert to the old school calendar pointing out how teachers have suffered from the extreme weather. But Quetua expressed concern over holding weekly Saturday classes.

But Areola said the plan is not to conduct it every Saturday but only five or four Saturdays a quarter and that consultations will still be held with relevant stakeholders.

“Kinakabahan lang namin sa narinig namin dito ay yung Saturday classes, asynchronous. Ang tanong na lang although magkakaroon pa ng konsultasyon, ay baka isagad naman ito sa 220 days… baka naman pwedeng sa initial, Mr. Chair, pwede namang alternate siguro sa initial yung asynchronous kung 2 Saturdays yun sa loob ng isang buwan,” Quetua said.

“Actually Mr. Chair as I mentioned earlier I said it’s not going to be every Saturday… it’s something that we still have to talk it out with relevant stakeholders especially our learners, our parents, and that of our teachers. So there’s going to be consultation, Mr. Chair, that will happen before we even finalize this.”

 

[scott h]

9 minutes ago, Mike J said:

 “This is the fault of nobody." 

One step forward,,,,,two steps back

[Possum]

There is a deliberate effort to maintain 3rd world status it seems.

[hk blues]

10 minutes ago, Possum said:

There is a deliberate effort to maintain 3rd world status it seems.

That's the logical conclusion. 

[Old55]

11 minutes ago, Possum said:

There is a deliberate effort to maintain 3rd world status it seems.

Absolutely agree. 

[Tommy T.]

As I often do, I will stand up a bit for the teachers....

I see the perspective from the teachers' viewpoint (my wife being a high school teacher). DepEd flounders often with edicts and rules that they issue the day before expecting to take effect and sometimes even on the same day. They do not seem to plan ahead or think things through. As others above have said, she and I feel sorry for the kids who are getting cheated out of quality education. Meanwhile, the teachers are loaded with all sorts of paperwork best handled by career bureaucrats and secretaries, not teachers. From what I hear, she spends multiples of her time doing paper work and evaluations (that likely nobody sees or reads) compared to her time actually teaching students in classes.

Case in point: do any of you remember the issue a few months ago regarding teaching supplies for DedEd being held essentially "hostage" due to supposed non-payment of warehouse or storage or shipping fees? Some time ago these supplies were supposedly released once someone of authority stepped in and shook things loose. Well, no supplies or materials of any kind have reached the public schools here in Davao. Who knows where they went or even if they really existed??? We are talking paper, computers, all sorts of teaching aids.

I will add my usual comment too... Since classes resumed after January 1 this year, I don't recall more than two or three weeks of classes without interruptions. There were days it was too hot (understandable since there is no air-con in classrooms, just anemic fans), Ramadan end, Easter and several other holidays that I can't remember.

Sorry... another mini rant from me regarding public school education here.

Edited May 14 by Tommy T.

[Possum]

2 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Case in point: do any of you remember the issue a few months ago regarding teaching supplies for DedEd being held essentially "hostage" due to supposed non-payment of warehouse or storage or shipping fees? Some time ago these supplies were supposedly released once someone of authority stepped in and shook things loose. Well, no supplies or materials of any kind have reached the public schools here in Davao. Who knows where they went or even if they really existed??? We are talking paper, computers, all sorts of teaching aids.

A long time ago I asked my friends if they could think of any agency or department in the Philippines that wasn't ripe with corruption. The best answer I got was,"Not even the Church"

[Lee1154]

13 hours ago, hk blues said:

That's the logical conclusion. 

Hey guys, this is the Philippines.  NO logic allowed here!!!  You have been warned.

[graham59]

Thank goodness the singing, dancing, marching, drumming, multiple celebrations of this that and the other non-education related bs, along with the frequent national holidays, have not suffered.

I've stopped listening to the excuses.

[BrettGC]

The amount of public holidays per year doesn't help:

Full list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_public_holidays

Granted, some of these do fall in school break times but for the most part not.  

You can add to that number local province, city and barangay days. 

Funnily enough, PI isn't even close to the top of the list but it's still pretty awful.