The Department of Education (DepEd) announced yesterday that it is mulling the possibility of extending the school year and compressing the summer vacation from two months to two weeks, leading to howls of protests from Filipino students on Twitter.
“We will no longer have a long [summer] break in between two school years. Probably just two weeks. We will talk about that,” DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio told the news program 24 Oras in an interview.
“We’re planning to propose a two-week [extension] for this quarter. So that means the school calendar will move for two weeks when this gets approved,” San Antonio added.
While 99 percent of Filipino students have been able to send their requirements on time, there are still a number of learners who have to play catch up, he said.
“Less than 1% out of 20 something million learners is also a significant number. Just because they submitted [their requirements] doesn’t mean they’re learning,” the education official said.
Read: No face-to-face learning until COVID-19 vax is available, says Education Secretary
The current school year is scheduled to end on June 11. It started in August last year, or two months late, because the government was ill-prepared for blended learning.
Filipino schools have been conducting distance-learning classes since the start of the pandemic because President Rodrigo Duterte has prohibited face-to-face sessions unless a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available. The government, which is still waiting for the delivery of vaccines, has yet to start its inoculation program, unlike neighboring countries Indonesia and Singapore.
Pinoy students are now expressing their frustration on Twitter, where the word “DepEd” is trending. As of writing, there are almost 45,000 tweets mentioning the department, and a huge majority are annoyed that the government had the audacity to make such a proposal.
“[S]tudents, teachers, and parents are tired. [T]eachers and parents are already struggling financially,” wrote user @d1rt_bl0ck.
Read: Poor Filipino children are planning to drop out of school because of ‘blended’ learning
i just want non filos to understand some of their filo oomfs.
deped(our school department) is considering making our 2-month summer break into 2 weeks. students, teachers, and parents are tired. teachers and parents are already struggling financially.
— ｊ (@d1rt_bl0ck) February 18, 2021
“Class extension with 2-week summer break this year? Seriously, Deped? For what? So the students could learn more? Do you think we learned something from these online and modular classes?” tweeted a furious @MarieTheCracker.
Class extension with 2-week summer break this year? Seriously, Deped? For what? So the students could learn more? Do you think we learned something from this online and modular classes? Or baka nagbibingi-bingihan at nagbubulag-bulagan na naman kayo? Kasi ako, pagod na ako.
— i am u (@MarieTheCracker) February 17, 2021
Someone named @genomynt accused DepEd of thinking that “humans are robots” for proposing a two-week summer vacation.
DepEd thinks humans are robots to have a summer vacation for 2 weeks: pic.twitter.com/AtUIrPnR88
— HAVE U SEEN THIS GILF💙 WRITING COMMISSIONS OPEN💙 (@genomynt) February 17, 2021
Are you in favor of extending the school year? Tell us by leaving a comment below or tweeting to @CoconutsManila.
