DepEd: Opening of school year 2021-2022 is on September [Read full details]

Here's the latest update on the opening of classes for the school year 2021-2022.

DepEd Usec. Diosdado San Antonio stated that they are looking at an option of opening the classes for the next school year within September. However, the final decision as to when is the official opening of classes still rely on the President.

 
"Ang io-offer namin na isang option — within September. Although sa level pa lang ito ng aming strat, ang idea namin hindi pa final," said San Antonio.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said today that the next school year should open no earlier than 13 September 2021, to complete the teachers’ rightful 80 days proportional vacation pay (PVP) in a school year that includes Christmas break and vacation between school years.

“It is already too much that teachers are made to work for 13 straight months in the current school year, and shortening their much-needed break after the taxing first year of distance learning ‘is just plain abuse,” said Raymond Basilio, ACT Secretary-General.

Basilio said that the DepEd still has to recompense the 77 days of overtime work that it had imposed on teachers under the extended school year, asserting that the government as the employer of public school teachers should abide by the labor laws.

“It is either they pay our teachers with 25% of daily pay for each day of overtime work, or convert such to more rest days, which is equivalent to 19 days. With this, opening of the next school year can be scheduled on October 4,” said Basilio.

Basilio blasted DepEd Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio in his statement ‘hindi pwedeng ugali ng huling naghahabol ýung pahinga nang pahinga,’ when asked why the DepEd is eager to open a new school year immediately.

“It is very insensitive of the DepEd to treat our teachers like tireless machines or beasts of burden that it can just whip to action. Hindi tamad ang ating mga guro kaya humihiling sila ng sapat na pahinga, mga tao silang nagkakasakit na sa bigat ng gawain at tagal ng pagpapatrabaho,” hit Basilio.

Basilio furthered that Philippines lagging behind in international assessments ‘is hardly the fault of public school teachers who have actually bore the brunt of the government’s neglect of education.’

“No amount of extended class days can remedy the lack of teaching and learning resources and the faultiness of the curriculum. The DepEd and the Duterte government should have first an honest-to-goodness assessment of how they provided for the needs of education and how the distance learning was designed and prepared if they really want our performance to improve,” concluded Basilio


Source: Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)