DepEd Extends School Year To July 10

The Department of Education (DepEd) has officially extended the current school year in public elementary and high schools by almost a month to July 10.

“There has been an identified need to address learning gaps in order to meet the required essential learning competencies,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said in an order on Tuesday, March 2.

“These learning gaps are attributable to reduced academic opportunities at home and substantial loss of live contact with teachers,” she added.

Based on the order, the amendment to the original school calendar aims to “address the learning gaps and to give additional pedagogical time to teachers for the different learning modalities.”

The third grading period, which is supposed to start last Monday, March 1, will be deferred to March 22 to give time to these efforts to address the said learning gaps.

Based on the new schedule, schools shall conduct intervention and remediation activities from March 1 to 12 to support learners based on their needs as determined through the results of different assessments.

“These intervention and remediation activities shall be indicated in the two-week home learning plan to be prepared by the teachers, with the assistance of the assigned learning support aides as applicable,” the order read.

From March 15 to 19, teachers shall attend a professional development program through in-service training organized by the school or other relevant DepEd units.

The end of the third grading will be moved to May 15, from the previous April 24. Meanwhile, the fourth grading will be from May to July 10, from the previous April 26 to June 11.

“The additional two-week period shall be compensated by a similar adjustment in the school break between School Year 2020-21 and School Year 2021-2022,” the DepEd said.

The schedules for the school break, summer or remedial classes and the opening of classes for the next school year have yet to be released.

It was the second adjustment to the school year since the start of classes last Oct. 5. The opening of classes was postponed a few times due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the quarantine restrictions imposed. All the stakeholders had to adjust to blended learning as face-to-face classes for elementary and high school students even in areas with zero or low COVID-19 transmission were not allowed.

In November, the office of the undersecretary for curriculum and instruction extended the first grading period to foster academic ease and recalibrate the strategy to deliver education using distance learning modalities.

DepEd said the new policy will be implemented in public schools, while private schools and other basic education institutions offering basic education were encouraged to implement the same guidelines.

Last month, DepEd Undersecretary for curriculum and instruction Diosdado San Antonio discussed the proposal to extend the school year but various groups rejected this. 

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers said the DepEd should instead  reduce the workload of students and teachers while the Kabataan party-list contended that  extending the school year would not address the challenges of distance learning.