THE TEACHERS’ Dignity Coalition renewed its call to the Department of Education to consider reverting the country’s school calendar to the old one, where school break falls in April and May, the hottest months of the year.

The group made the call after the education department released DepEd Order 34 stating that the first day of School Year 2023-2024 will be on August 28.

Benjo Basas, the group’s national chairperson, said that DepEd has not yet issued a calendar of activities for the next school year. He added that this could be an indication that the agency is still deliberating over the number of proposals, and he hopes that the TDC’s is among them.

“During the previous school year, we experienced extreme heat in schools, which was a terrible ordeal for teachers and students, many fell ill. Due to the heat, many schools were compelled to switch back to less desirable online and modular learning. Classes were also cut short for the same reason. These were done to mitigate the impact of the heat, which was exacerbated by our crowded, poorly ventilated, and inadequately insulated classrooms,” Basas explained.

In a letter dated June 7, 2023, the group asked Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte to revert to the previous school calendar due to the impracticality of the present schedule.

The group, however, recognized that the pandemic forced the education department to adjust the opening of classes, albeit in distance learning mode for School Year 2020-2021 and School Year 2021-2022.

“The alternative methods used have adversely affect learning that can never be recovered once missed. There is simply no substitute for face-to-face classes,” he added.

To make sure that the school system will immediately be reverted to old calendar, the TDC said that they propose that the start of the next school year be August 28 or August 29, 2023 but recommend ending it on April 27, 2024. This schedule includes 33 Saturdays of asynchronous class, bringing the total number of school days to 193, which is more than the DepEd-prescribed 180 non-negotiable school days.

“But since the School Year 2022-2023, which began on August 22, 2023, and officially ended on July 14, 2023, only allows for a 44-day school break instead of the regular 60, we also ask that the 16 days short for two-month summer vacation be considered as leave credit or paid vacation or sick leave,” Basas explained.

The TDC said that if the DepEd will adopt the proposal, School Year 2024-2025 may have its first day on the 17th of June, 2024, with a 44-day school break, and conclude on April 11, 2025, for a total of 198 days.

“With this scheme, we could revert to the old schedule by school year 2024-25 with very minimal adjustment and without sacrificing the mandatory two-month school break for teachers. And by school year 2025-2026, we will be fully reverted to the country’s traditional June-March school schedule, which has served our nation well for years,” Basas said.