Metro Manila, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved a two-year shift to the old school calendar beginning this coming academic year, Malacanang said in a statement.
Under the new schedule, school year (SY) 2024-2025 will open on July 29 until April 15. The June-March academic calendar will be carried out in 2025-2026.
The new policy heeded appeals from the education sector as many schools have shifted to distance education and remote learning because of extreme heat in classrooms during summer.
The Palace said Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte met with Marcos on Tuesday to discuss the transition to the previous school calendar.
During the meeting, Duterte offered two options for a possible shift in 2025-2026: hold 15 in-person Saturday classes and end the SY on March 31, or reduce school days to 165 from 180. The president rejected both.
“Habaan lang natin ‘yung school days. Para matagal, dagdagan na lang natin ‘yung school days basta huwag natin gagalawin ‘yung Saturday. So, school day will remain the same. Standard lang,” Marcos was quoted as saying in the news release.
(Translation: Let’s just stretch the school days. Let’s increase the number of school days per year to make it longer. Just don’t touch Saturdays. So the school day will remain the same. Just the standard.)
What happens next?
After the first adjustment in SY 2024-2025, the Education Department said the June-March calendar will kick in by 2025-2026.
Education Undersecretary Michael Poa said schools may begin classes on June 16, 2025 and end on March 31, 2026. The Department of Education originally proposed the full shift by SY 2026-2027.
Pending delays, the Philippines and Myanmar would be the only countries in Southeast Asia to begin the SY in June by 2025.
Welcome development
Meanwhile, teacher groups welcomed the policy.
“We consider this as a fruit of public school teachers, students and parents’ consistent clamor to revert to the old school calendar given the full impact of the government’s neglect of the public school system suffered during hot months,” the Alliance of Concerned Teachers said in a statement.
Teacher’s Dignity Coalition welcomed the decision to scrap the proposed Saturday classes.
“At bagamat magkakaroon pa rin ng klase sa unang dalawang linggo ng Abril, 2025 matitiyak naman na hindi na kakailanganin ang Saturday classes dahil mahahabol na ang tradisyunal na 180 days,” it said in a statement.
(Translation: Even though there will still be classes in the first two weeks of April 2025, it is guaranteed that there will be no Saturday classes because the traditional 180-school day will still be kept.)
