The Department of Education (DepEd) is studying the possibility of holding classes on Saturdays to make up for the reduction in the number of school days when the old school calendar is restored this coming school year.
DepEd director for curriculum and instruction-Bureau of Learning Delivery Leila Areola said the agency is planning to start SY 2024-2025 on July 29 and end it by March 31 next year while SY 2025-2026 shall start by June next year.
Areola noted that because of this, the minimum number of school days would be reduced from the current 180 to around 163.
“We still need to be consulting our teachers and our learners, because the aggressive shift will be reducing the school year to something like 163,” she said.
To make up for the reduction in school days, the DepEd is eyeing Saturday classes.
“It’s not going to be every Saturday. There will just be certain Saturdays that we need to conduct, for example, distance learning, so that they will be able to cover the competencies that might not be covered with the reduction of the school year,” Areola said.
However, Areola said there is no law or policy that requires the minimum 180 days but it has been practiced since 1990.
“The average number of days is 203, and I have to mention that when the curriculum was prepared, they calculated actually 180 as much as possible to be the minimum number of school days,” she said.
