EDUCATION Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas divulged on Tuesday that they are eyeing to shorten next year’s school calendar by two months.

During the Senate Committee on Basic Education hearing, Bringas said the shortened school calendar is part of their most aggressive proposal yet to return to a schedule that ends classes before the hot months of April and May.

Bringas, on the other hand, said they are aware of the impact of aggressively shortening the school year to make way for a June-March calendar.

Ending classes earlier in the year will reduce the number of school days, which Bringas said may require schools to conduct alternative delivery modes during weekends to comply with the law requiring DepEd to have a school calendar consisting of at least 180 days.

“We are looking at 165 days of full in-person classes,” Bringas said.

Bringas explained that an earlier end to the School Year 2024-2025 may also shorten teachers’ school breaks, impacting their vacation pay.

“There has to be a compromise there,” Bringas said.

“This year there are already two days compromised in teachers’ Proportional Vacation Pay, and they have already agreed to that. So we will see how far the compromise can go,” the DepEd official said.

Bringas said that students may also experience an even more compressed academic year in tackling the same number of competencies within a shorter number of school days.

“That’s why if we have 165 days of in-person classes, we have to look for some days to devote to ADM to cover some of the competencies that may not be taken up,” Bringas said, noting that this may fall on weekends and holidays.

“That’s what we are seeing as a compromise if we do this aggressively. We have to sacrifice some hours for the learners and teachers as well,” Bringas added.