Dabawenyo parents call on DepEd to revert to old school calendar

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews) – Several Dabawenyo parents called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to bring back the June-March academic calendar for school year 2024-2025, rather than implementing the current August-May schedule.

Jerome Roces, a father of four kids who are all in the elementary level, said there’s a need to revert the school calendar to the pre-COVID schedule in consideration of the hot weather condition during summer.

“(Even if we’re not yet in summer now,) it is difficult to send the kids to school because they are complaining that its very hot in their classrooms,” he told MindaNews Monday morning.

They are also prone to sore eyes, allergies and other illnesses brought by the hot weather, he said, adding the warm weather condition is dangerous for the children to play outdoors as they may easily get dehydrated.

Another parent, Maricel Escovilla, said that reverting the school calendar will be more convenient for the learners, as the current calendar “would not work in the country due to the hot weather situation.”

“Kung Mayo, init kaayo, labi na mag El Niño daw karon, mas kalas sa kuryente ug tubig kung summer nimo paskwelahon (If classes are until May, it will be very hot and humid for the students. With the El Niño supposedly coming during the summer, more power and water will also be consumed),” she said.

Her daughter, Ursula, a high school student, complained the current school calendar “is not viable for learning,” also citing the hot weather.

“Lisod kaayo magsuwat inig init kaayo, makahilo, dili ka kaconcentrate tapos mamaypay pa ka kay usahay gubaon ang electric fan (It is extremely difficult to write when it is excessively hot as it can make you dizzy and hinder your concentration. Sometimes you have to fan yourself manually because of the added annoyance of malfunctioning electric fans),” she said.

The calls of reverting to the old academic calendar came after the DepEd central office divulged that they are reconsidering implementing back the June to March setup.