Deped shortens school breaks for make-up classes

Pasig City (5 October) — The Department of Education canceled the semestral break for elementary and secondary levels, as well as shortened the Christmas and summer vacation to make up for the number of lost school days due to Typhoon Ondoy.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said “Aside from holding Saturday classes in schools, semestral break is canceled.”

Secretary Lapus said that the holding of makeup classes was necessary to attain the required 204 class days in a school year. Remedial classes are usually held on Saturdays and semestral breaks.

The DepEd calendar says the school year shall begin on June 1, 2009, and end on March 31, 2010.

There should be 54 class days in the first quarter, 48 in the second, 51 in the third and 51 in the last quarter, Lapus said.

Lapus has directed DepEd National Capital Region director Teresita Domalanta and other regional directors to draw up the guidelines in the holding of makeup classes.

Lapus said that in general, classes will resume on Monday except in areas which remain inaccessible due to floods brought by “Ondoy” or where schools are still being used as evacuation centers and areas where classes are ordered suspended by local authorities due to bad weather.

“In most parts of these areas, schools are still being used as evacuation centers and many homes are still submerged in floodwaters and worse, mud, which would make it very difficult for students in these places to go to school,” Lapus said.

Records showed that 16,328 families from three regions, including Metro Manila, are temporarily sheltered in 204 schools.

Meanwhile, classes in the tertiary level are also expected to resume on Monday but no official announcement has yet been made by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). (PIA)