CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has approved the return to old school calendar.
With this, the School Year (SY) 2024-2025 will start on July 29, 2024 and end on April 15, 2025.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the president's decision came after a sectoral meeting with Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte at Malacanang Palace to discuss the two options for the implementation of SY 2024-2025 calendar.
The move is also in response to the public's concerns on the schedule of classes in light of the shift to the old June to March school calendar.
This resulted the President's decision to start reverting the country’s school calendar to the traditional arrangement or the standard school calendar of 182 school days.
The two options presented by Duterte on the SY 2024-2025 calendar were supposed to both end March 31, 2025.
The first option consisted of 182 school days with 15 in-person Saturday classes while the second option was to have 167 school days with no in-person Saturday classes.
The PCO said that Marcos found the 167-day school calendar “too short” and such an arrangement will significantly reduce the number of school days and contact time that may compromise learning outcomes.
He also did not want students to be going to school on Saturdays to complete the 182-day school calendar because it would jeopardize their well-being and demand more resources.
Instead of ending on March 31, 2025, Marcos said the Department of Education should adjust the school year to end on April 15, 2025 to enable students to complete 182 days without using Saturdays to go to school.
Duterte said they already consulted with teachers, school officials, and parents as far as the proposed school calendar is concerned.