Marcos says reverting to old school calendar 'better for kids'

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday said that bringing back the old school calendar would be better for the children.

In an ambush interview, Marcos was asked about the recommendation of the Department of Education (DepEd) to implement anew the old school calendar.

''Of course hiningi ko 'yan sa DepEd and I asked Inday Sara to give me already a concrete plan because mukha naman hindi na tayo kailangan mag-antay pa at mukha namang kailangan na,'' Marcos said.

(I asked DepEd for that and I asked Inday Sara to give me already a concrete plan because I think we don't need to wait. I think it's needed.)

''Í don't see any objections really from anyone especially with the El Niño being what it is. Every day you turn on the news, F2F classes are canceled, F2F classes have been postponed, et cetera. So talagang kailangan na kailangan na (It's badly needed). So yes, that’s part of the plan that we're trying to do to bring it back already to the old schedule. I think it would be better for the kids,'' he added.

Asked if this would be implemented by next year, Marcos said, ''Hopefully by next year, yes, matatapos na (it will be finished).''

DepEd to abide by decision

Reacting to this, DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas told reporters that the department will abide by Marcos’ decision on returning to the old school calendar.

“In our letter to OP regarding DepEd’s proposal for reversion to June-March SY, we already stated that we commit to abide by the President’s decision on the matter. The same statement I made during the Senate hearing last April 30,” Bringas said in a Viber message.

According to the DepEd official, the “most aggressive option” to revert to the old school calendar would be ending SY 2024-2025 on March 31, 2025, which would only accumulate around 165 school days.

The DepEd earlier said it had proposed to Marcos ending the School Year 2024-2025 in March 2025 amid clamor for the immediate return to the April-May school break.

The agency had said that it would take at least three years before the school break returns to April-May.

It said that ending the school year in March 2025 would decrease the school calendar to 165 days.

For the 2023-2024 school year, DepEd set the end of the academic year earlier than scheduled—or on May 31, 2024—to gradually shift back to the old school calendar with April-May as the summer vacation.

The SY 2024-2025 in public schools is set to start on July 29, 2024 and end on May 16, 2025.

Citing DepEd’s projections, Undersecretary Michael Poa earlier said that the pre-pandemic June-March school calendar might return by SY 2026-2027, with the school break by then beginning in the first week of April.

Amid the calls to shorten the school calendar’s transition period, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte had also said that consultations on the matter were already done.

She also stressed that the break of both teachers and students should not be compromised.

“Hindi natin pwedeng i-compromise ang pahinga ng ating mga teachers and ng ating mga learners dahil hindi natin pwedeng idire-diretso ang mga klase dahil kailangan ng pahinga hindi lang ng mga teacher kundi ng mga mag-aaral,” Duterte said last month.

(We cannot compromise the rest period of our teachers and our learners. We can’t shorten the transition period because not only the teachers need time for rest, but our students too.)

'Expedited reversion'

Reacting to the president's latest remark, Senate basic education committee chairman Sherwin Gatchalian thanked Marcos for calling for an expedited reversion to the old school calendar next year.

"These past few weeks, we have seen how the extreme heat led to several suspensions of face-to-face classes in many parts of the country, which disrupted the continuity of education for our learners. We also have to keep in mind that the extreme heat poses a threat to the health, safety, and well-being of our learners and teachers," Gatchalian said.

"By moving back the opening of classes to June, we can restore normalcy to the school calendar cycle, which the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in 2020," he added.

Last month, Gatchalian raised the need to study the shortening of the transition period to revert to the old school calendar amid the suspension of classes in public schools due to the extreme hot weather.

In March last year, Gatchalian said it was high time to bring back the April to May summer vacation.

He also commissioned a Pulse Asia Survey in June 2023 which showed that eight out of 10 Filipinos are in favor of bringing back students’ summer vacation to April and May. — with Hana Bordey/KG/RSJ, GMA Integrated News