ARTICLE: CATCH UP FRIDAYS: A BURDEN OR COMFORT TO TEACHERS? JANET ALLADO- DALUSUNG

The pandemic has caused a lot of changes in the field of education. Many schools closed and face-to-face classes were suspended for the meantime. The field of education sector faces a lot of challenges that need to be addressed to improve the quality of education and to help students in the new normal set-up of learning; one of these is the learning gaps. According to Rappler, to address the learning gaps among grade school students and high school students, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday, January 12,2024 began its “Catch-up Fridays” program, which dedicates every Friday of the whole school year to reading, values, peace, and health education. Is this a burden or comfort for teachers? Moreover, aligned to the memorandum issued by the Department of Education, all schools in the country shall roll out the implementation of National Reading program through activities such as “Drop-Everything and Read” and so much more. In addition, DepEd added that these CATCH-UP FRIDAYS intend to strengthen the foundational, social, and other relevant skills necessary to actualize the intent of the basic education curriculum that is beneficial for the students. However, this positive intention of the department does not give the same flavors for us teachers. More so, this makes us express our negative sentiments and disappointed opinions. Since the plan and preparation is considered rush, wherein school personnel are given only two days for this new program it results a burden to the teachers. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) called out the Department of Education (DepEd) over the “abrupt” issuance of its order for the implementation of the “Catch-Up Fridays” learning intervention program in schools, saying it caught them and school heads by surprise, (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2024). We feel ill-equipped and ineffective because no enough proper orientation was given before the implementation of the program which gives us teachers an impression of a not so “Thank God it’s Friday” but instead “a stop-up Friday”. The haphazard implementation of this intervention gives us a feeling of instead a comfort becoming an additional workload for us teachers on top of our teaching assignments.

-oOoThe author is Secondary School Teacher II at Dr. Clemente N. Dayrit Sr. Memorial High School