Michael Poa, a spokesperson for the Department of Education (DepEd), stated on Wednesday that despite the heat, there are no plans to revert the summer break to April and May.
“At the moment, there are no plans to revert,” Poa said in a message to media when asked about requests to move the school break back to the months of April and May.
“As mentioned in a previous statement, school heads have the discretion to suspend in-person classes and immediately switch to [Alternative Delivery Mode] or Blended learning if the environment is not conducive to learning,” he added.
Poa stated that the DepEd would take notice of the ideas and analyze the situation in response to additional opinions on restoring the school break to April-May.
Tuesday, Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on basic education, stated that it is time to reinstate the April–May summer break.
“Kailangan ibalik ‘yan sa dati (We need to bring it back)… It’s time to bring it back, especially now that it’s normal already,” he said.
Students’ summer vacation remains unchanged – DepEd
Gatchalian released a statement regarding the recent occurrence in Cabuyao City, Laguna, where over 100 students were rushed to the hospital following an unexpected fire drill. Reports revealed that several students fainted due to hunger and dehydration.
According to a disaster management official, the day of the drill saw a heat index range of 39 to 42 degrees Celsius in the city. Gatchalian emphasized that the incident could have been prevented had appropriate measures been taken to ensure the students’ welfare.
Additionally, Gatchalian noted that the original schedule for summer vacation was set for April to May due to the upcoming elections and the various extracurricular activities that students often partake in during this time.
“May logic ‘yan e kaya nilagay diyan [in those months]. Two reasons: Number one, ang eleksyon natin is always summer. So people will go out to vote kasi ‘pag tag-ulan people will not go out to vote,” he said.
“And then, pangalawa, summer kasi that’s the time students can go out, spend time with their families as opposed to tag-ulan. So mas maganda na ibalik natin sa dating April, May ang summer vacation,” the senator added.
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