ZUBIRI WANTS JUNE TO MARCH SCHOOL YEAR BACK

SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri urged Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte to revert to the June to March academic calendar to spare students and teachers from possible health hazards due to extreme heat during the dry season.

On Monday, Zubiri asked the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to revert to the pre-pandemic calendar this coming school year instead of a gradual return in SY 2025-2026.

"I'm hoping that DepEd Secretary [Sara] Duterte can push for the restoration of the former summer break, which starts second week of March until first week of June," Zubiri said in a press briefing.

He said the "almost unbearable rise in temperature for the summer and the recurring cancellation of face-to-face classes are both compelling reasons to fast-track the return to a June to March academic calendar and spare students, as well as teachers, from the ill effects of the extreme heat."

"Aside from exposing our students and teachers to the dangers of extreme heat, I honestly believe that the prevailing weather conditions during summer are not conducive to learning," Zubiri said.

Also, the Senate chief said he withdrew Senate Bill 788, which he filed at the start of the 19th Congress, which aims to synchronize the school year to start in August.

"In an ideal world, we do want to be in sync with international school calendars to give our students a better chance at getting into programs abroad," Zubiri said.

"But the reality is that the August calendar has proven to be disruptive to our education system and even dangerous to the health of our children and school staff," he added.

Zubiri said when class suspensions due to the extreme heat started on April 4, 4,000 schools suspended face-to-face classes and switched to asynchronous and distance learning modes. On April 12, 7,000 schools suspended face-to-face classes. In both cases, more than 1 million students were affected.

Since then, DepEd Order 37 has been implemented, giving school heads the authority and discretion to suspend in-person classes and shift to alternative delivery modes in cases of extreme heat, which even reached as high as 45 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country.

In many LGUs, such as Quezon City, face-to-face classes are automatically suspended in public schools when the heat index hits 40 C or higher, and private schools are given the discretion to do the same.

The DepEd said it has been implementing measures to gradually return to the pre-pandemic school year, which was changed in 2020 due to the lockdown implemented to combat the spread of Covid-19. DepEd has declared a nationwide suspension of in-person classes from April 29 to 30.

"Our LGUs (local government units) and DepEd are making the right call with these suspensions, given the danger of heat strokes in our schools, especially since most of our schools do not yet have air conditioning," Zubiri said.

These suspensions necessitate a return to the June-to-March school year, he said.

2024-04-29T16:22:17Z dg43tfdfdgfd