From my pre-elementary to my post-graduate schooling, I got used to attending my classes from June to March year after year. The pandemic has shifted the country’s school calendar and for the school year 2022 - 2023, classes started last August of last year while students’ vacation shall start in July of this year. This is in pursuance to Republic Act 11480 that amended Republic Act 7797, otherwise known as “An Act to Lengthen the School Calendar from Two Hundred (200) Days to Not More Than Two Hundred Twenty (220) Class Days”.
The school calendar shift due to the pandemic has made summer months as school months, thus students have to spend their time in classrooms instead of spending it in places of interest or in their families or relatives in the provinces for the usual “summer vacation”. The school break now starts in July, a known rainy month in the Philippines.
After students in Laguna were rushed to the hospital due to heat exhaustion, a lawmaker now proposes the reversion to the previous school calendar where school breaks are during the hot and dry months of April to May. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is pushing to revert to the pre-pandemic school calendar citing that there is logic in the schedule of the school year.
He underscored the importance that students, during their summer breaks, can spend more time with their families in places as compared during the rainy season when movement is restricted by poor weather conditions. Many students who are studying in Metro Manila can spend their school break in their home provinces while having their respite from school.
The Senator went further saying that political elections are held during summer, the time when people can go out and vote without the hassles of a drizzle and while classrooms of public schools are not used by students in their classes. Sometimes, tallying of votes takes a couple of days to finish. Classes cannot be held while there are teachers still counting votes.
The sweltering heat, in addition, put students at risk of getting illnesses and diseases when having their classes during summer. The young ones are usually prone to asthma attacks, not to mention the great inconvenience of sweat and humidity inside non-airconditioned classrooms that may cause dehydration and tiredness. The harsh summer heat can also result in rapid exhaustion of students.
Meanwhile, in response to the call of the Senator, the Department of Education DepEd said that it has no plans to move the school break to the months of April and May, adding no further comment except that it shall study the proposal. A group of teachers are supporting the call of the legislator.
In a survey conducted by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) participated by public school teachers, it was disclosed that 87 percent had students who cannot focus on their lessons due to intolerable heat in classrooms and 37 percent said that the summer heat triggered the existing medical conditions of teachers and students, while 40 percent of respondents noted that students have been absenting from their classes since the summer months began.
Electric fans are not enough to suppress the heat inside classrooms. The use of air-conditioners however shall mean higher electric bills for the DepEd. Private schools on the other hand, may impose higher tuition fees or additional charges for air-conditioning of their classrooms and the burden of paying more money rests with the parents in exchange for the convenience of their children.
The education department should act on the proposal and should fast-track its study on it while there is still time to adjust everything that concerns students. It should consider the plight of schoolchildren who have to bear the heat and classrooms which are not conducive to learning during the summer months. Talk about quality education for all.
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