MANILA — Classes on public schools for School Year 2023-2024 will officially begin on August 29, the Department of Education (DepEd) announced on Thursday.
“The Department of Education announces that the opening of classes for School Year 2023-2024 in all public schools will be on August 29, 2023,” the DepEd said in a Facebook post.
Meanwhile, the DepEd said that classes may choose to start classes any day between June and August.
“Private schools may choose to open classes on any date starting ‘the first Monday of June but not later than the last day of August,’ pursuant to Republic Act 11480,” DepEd added.
In 2022, classes began on August 22.
The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition earlier asked the DepEd to return to the old school calendar when classes typically began in June, after schools were compelled to suspend classes due to extreme heat.
Return to old school calendar?
A group of teachers reiterated their call for DepEd to revert to the old school calendar, saying that alternative learning strategies had adversely impacted learning that could not be recovered once missed.
“There is simply no substitute for face-to-face classes,” Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) chair Benjo Basas said.
The group was reacting to Education Undersecretary Michael Poa’s statement in a recent forum that instead of suspending classes in times of disasters, the DepEd was resorting to alternative delivery modes—modules, blended learning, or online learning—to maximize learning continuity.
“Since we are in learning recovery mode, we are no longer suspending classes. The only ones that are suspended are in-person classes, but our learners continue to study at their homes,” Poa said.
Basas noted that during the previous school year, many schools were compelled to resort to online or modular learning when teachers and students fell ill due to extreme heat,
“Classes were also cut short for the same reason. These were done to mitigate the impact of the heat, which was exacerbated by our crowded, poorly ventilated and inadequately insulated classrooms,” he said.
Based on the TDC’s proposal, the next school year may start on Aug. 28 or Aug. 29 but should end on April 27, 2024.
“The proposed schedule includes 33 Saturdays of asynchronous class, bringing the total number of school days to 193, which is more than the DepEd-prescribed 180 nonnegotiable school days,” it said. (Jean Mangaluz, Jane Bautista © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
