DepEd working on reverting to old school calendar

Transcript

00:00 Children's physical and mental health are more fragile and vulnerable to the elements.

00:04 Hence, children should not stay in classrooms to learn when the heat outside is baking them inside.

00:09 Our Kenneth Paciente has more on extreme heat, school officials and students,

00:14 and the depth at going back to the old calendar in two years.

00:18 Reynalyn's daughter go to school at 1 p.m. in the afternoon.

00:24 But because of the intense heat outside,

00:26 she is in favor of canceling in-person classes in most schools.

00:30 And for her, it would be better to revert to the old school calendar,

00:41 something the DepEd is working on right now.

00:44 At the public hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education,

00:47 the DepEd said it has reduced the period for the gradual return of the old schedule to two school years.

00:53 The proposed two-school-year gradual reversion was the subject of extensive consultations

00:59 conducted from January to February this year with field personnel, parents' organizations,

01:05 teacher organizations, private school associations, student leaders, and various stakeholders.

01:11 As a result of the consultation, school year 2024-2025 is scheduled to end May 16,

01:18 that is, in the next two weeks, Mr. Chair,

01:21 while school year 2025-2026 will end on April 16, 2026,

01:28 and to complete the reversion, school year 2026-2027 will already start by mid-June and end in March.

01:36 In addition, the Department has also submitted a letter to President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

01:41 in which other options related to the reversion of the school calendar are provided and cited.

01:47 If approved, students will have only 165 in-person school days in the next school year,

01:52 while the rest will be done through distance learning.

01:55 Based on Republic Act 7797, students must chalk up to 220 school days or in-classroom sessions.

02:02 On the other hand, the Health Department played out the possible effects of the increasing heat

02:07 index especially on children.

02:09 Compared to adults, children experience a greater heat gain from the environment.

02:16 And yet have the reduced ability to dissipate this heat by evaporation.

02:21 Secondary to their greater surface area-to-body mass ratio and lower sweating capacity,

02:30 respectively.

02:31 Referencing this.

02:32 And further, children have less experience recognizing heat stress symptoms,

02:40 less awareness of their hydration status, and less of an urge to drink water.

02:47 Children have more difficulty focusing on their studies when the weather is hot.

02:51 7,800 of the 11,706 in-person days, 67%, public school teachers have experienced

03:01 "intolerable heat" in open and closed quotations in their classrooms.

03:06 And that the most commonly reported result of this intolerable heat

03:11 is students' difficulty in paying attention to their lessons, 86.6%,

03:18 followed by increased absenteeism, 39%, and ailments triggered by the heat, 37%.

03:26 The DepEd stressed again that schools have the authority to cancel in-person classes

03:31 if they think the situation in the classroom is no longer conducive to learning due to the

03:35 hot weather.

03:36 They can also shift to alternative delivery mode or distance learning as well as adjusted schedule.

03:42 Kenneth Paciente, from the National TV Network, for a new and better Philippines.