MANILA — The Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) has called out the overcrowding of the school year, partly attributing it to activities and large-scale events hosted by the Department of Education (DepEd).
In its final report titled “Turning Point: A Decade of Necessary Reform,” the government body tasked to supervise the state of the country’s education system took note of the reduced days of a school year, because of large-scale events such as the Palarong Pambansa and the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC).
This actually defeats the purpose of the recommendation under Republic Act No. 11480, which lengthens the school calendar days from 200 to 220, intended to devote the additional days for the engaged time-on-task.
Based on Edcom’s review, however, the recent DepEd school calendars indicate that public schools operate with an average of only about 191 actual class days per year since more than 120 legislated activities, celebrations and observances have “crowded” an entire school year.
These activities often require participating students and teachers to be excused from their classes, displacing core instructions.
The commission attributed the absences partly on mandated events including the NSPC, Palarong Pambansa and the National Festival of Talents, among others, that hinder classes, leaving teachers to compress an “already congested curriculum into fewer learning days.”
“Many of these celebrations progress from school to division, regional and national levels with corresponding tryouts, practices and documentation, effectively multiplying the time learners and teachers are excused from regular classes,” the commission said.
This also “directly contradicts” the intention under an existing Department of Education (DepEd) policy wherein the prescribed 205 school days be strictly devoted to the “engaged time-on-task,” and that class suspensions for celebrations or national programs be avoided which would be in favor of simple integration into regular classroom discussions.
“The proliferation of legislated observances, school-based competitions and DepEd-initiated co-curricular events often displace core subjects rather than being meaningfully integrated into learning,” the commission said.
While the commission acknowledged that the NSPC and the Palarong Pambansa are meant to showcase excellence and guide learners to creative and technical career paths, these are still largely organized during the school year, eating up the time when students and teachers are supposed to be in classrooms.
This is despite the fact that DepEd has a long-standing order to minimize any form of disruptions and keep celebrations within the regular school day, mainly because of “weak” monitoring and accountability mechanisms for engaged time on task.
Under DepEd Order No. 9, issued in 2005, every school is required to prepare a school calendar detailing day-to-day activities and discouraging suspensions for celebrations.
“However, testimony from teachers and principals on the field during the Edcom 2 workshop on legislated subjects and activities indicates that many schools still experience overlapping periodic tests and celebrations, that division level competitions are scheduled during regular class days and that reporting focuses more on compliance with celebrations than on whether learners actually received the full number of instructional days promised in the school calendar” the Edcom said.
The commission recommended that the events, including large-scale events like the NSPC and Palarong Pambansa, become structured extensions of the curriculum or pathways to careers while “systematically minimizing disruptions to regular classes.”
“The design of these competitions should be tightened to require explicit alignment with curriculum competencies and career exploration standards, clear inclusion strategies for learners from smaller or disadvantaged schools, and mechanisms to capture and disseminate winning outputs as teaching resources and examples across the system,” the commission noted. (Dempsey Reyes © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
