The Department of Education (DepEd) issued two significant Orders recently on the amendment to the school calendar and activities and the immediate removal of administrative tasks for public school teachers.
The two significant changes would mark a history in the Department.
As many have seen, the change to the school calendar suggests that we are gradually returning to the previous schedule from before Covid-19. The school before typically began on the first Monday in June.
In DepEd Order No. 22, s. 2023, the issuance said the schoolyear 2023-2024 shall open on August 29, 2023, and end on June 14, 2024.
An amendment, however, was recently announced, adjusting the end of classes to May 31, 2024 instead, which means it would be two weeks in advance.
In DepEd Order No. 3, s. 2024 pertaining to amendments, for the school year 2024-2025, the classes will start on July 29, 2024 and end on May 16, 2025. It indicates a difference of one month from the previous opening of classes.
The number of school days in the adjustment, however, does not affect the Republic Act No. 11480, which says the length of the school calendar is from 200 to 220 days.
The summer break, as we call it, will start from June 1 to July 26, only almost three months from now.
The national activities and competitions will be conducted during the break, from July 6 to 17. These are the Palarong Pambansa, National Schools Press Conference, National Festival of Talents, and Learners’ Convergence.
The conduct of Brigada Eskwela will be one week before the opening of classes from July 22 to 27.
The National Learning Camp, a learning recovery program, will be conducted from July 1 to 19.
One line from the same memorandum struck the teachers most: No voluntary or mandatory tasks or activities shall be assigned to the teachers from June 1 to June 30.
Even before the Order was issued, a previous equally important Order was also released pertaining to the welfare of teachers.
The DepEd Order No. 2, s. 2024 clearly stated the immediate removal of administrative tasks of public school teachers.
The administrative tasks are the nonteaching tasks of teachers, which are related to effective and efficient school operations and programs, projects, and services.
This means that tasks such as personnel administration, physical facilities custodianship, general administrative support, financial and records management, management of school-based feeding and disaster risk reduction, and other related programs shall not be assigned anymore to teachers.
These two significant issuances – no tasks to be given to teachers for a month and removal of nonteaching tasks – are perceived to only come up with one result: Teaching strategies improvement to improve learning outcomes.
Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte believes that the core of quality basic education is a vibrant and quality teaching workforce.
Under her MATATAG agenda, DepEd commits to enhancing the delivery of quality basic education while promoting teacher quality and welfare.