Bacolod City – The move of the Department of Education to gradually return the start of school year to June has the support of Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson.
The plans of DepEd to return the start of the school year to June came after it received mounting complaints on the difficulties in holding classes during the hot summer months of April and May.
Lacson said that students have no time to unwind during their current break, because of the rainy season.
He also noted that public school classrooms do not have air conditioning, “so it is difficult.”
A large number of parents and even some teachers have proposed a return to a June class opening, when weather conditions and temperatures are far more suitable.
Last year, several students suffered various heat-related illnesses, such as nosebleed or epistaxis, due to the high temperatures they were experiencing inside their classrooms.
The high temperatures are also causing a drop in performance among students and they are unable to focus on their studies.
During a hearing of the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture, DepEd Director IV Leila Areola said they had already drafted an amendment to Department Order No. 22 Series of 2023, to allow schools nationwide to ease back into the old June to March academic calendar, possibly by School Year 2025 to 2026.
Ian Arnold Arnaiz, public information officer for the DepEd schools division in Negros Occidental, cited the high temperatures during the summer season as one of the reasons why the proposal to return to the June opening is being pushed. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)
