House panel adopts resolution on return to June-March school calendar

The House Basic Education and Culture committee has adopted an unnumbered resolution supporting the return of the school calendar to June until March.

Pasig lawmaker Roman Romulo, the panel chairperson, said a group of teachers also expressed backing for the old academic calendar.

The current school calendar shifted to August to June to prevent class cancellations amid flooding during the wet season in June and July.

“The sense of the House is we go back to June to March, but the DepEd (Department of Education) would also need to consult their field officers, so let us give them that leeway,” Romulo said during a public hearing.

These groups which the DepEd has finished consultations with included the Alliance of Concerned Teachers and Teachers Dignity Coalition.

“They have to consult with field officers and school division officers, who might have a different view. But they (DepEd) will have to form their own decision based on the consultations,” Romulo said.

Department of Science and Technology’s Climatology and Agrometeorology Division chief Marcelino Villafuerte II said schools need thorough preparation for both the old and new school calendar.

“We need to prepare for more school days coinciding with the rainy season, that would be 60 days…but we will also have fewer days with hot temperatures because our learners experienced fainting and so on. It will also be better for graduation since learners won’t be soaked in the rain during their graduation, so it would be a happier celebration,” Villafuerte said. —LDF, GMA Integrated News