It would take an act of Congress to require Philippine schools in all levels to move their opening from June to August.
That kind of force is needed to get other schools, public and private, to follow the example of the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila, which announced it would revise its academic calendar starting this school year to synchronize it with other universities in Asia, Europe and the United States.
This was the opinion of Jonathan Capanas, dean of the University of San Jose-Recolletos (USJ-R) College of Law.
He said legislation is needed to make uniform changes in the academic calendars of all primary, secondary and tertiary schools in the country.
“If there is already a law, no one can go against that,” he told reporters at the Capitol yesterday.
Implementing the change on a piecemeal basis would result in gaps that would place students who cross-enroll at a disadvantage, he said.
Capanas said the government must not leave the decision of what is the best academic calendar to private institutions alone because “academic freedom is not absolute and can be regulated,” Capanas said.
Classes
“It will take firm leadership on the part of the government to solve this,” he said.
Last Thursday, UP and Ateneo de Manila announced it would move up the opening of classes from June to August to keep in step with the “globalization” of education.
UP will open their academic year on August this year while Ateneo will implement it next year.
Except for UP Diliman and UP Integrated School which hasn’t completed consultations, UP in Manila, Los Baños, Baguio, Cebu, the Visayas and Mindanao, and UP Open University will start classes in August this year and end in May.
The first semester runs from August to December while the second semester opens in January and ends in May. Summer break starts in June and ends in July.
School break
Capanas said he fears that differing school year calendars among Philippine colleges and universities would result in gaps that will make students suffer.
He said problems would arise when a student chooses to cross-enroll or transfer to another school that follows a different academic calendar.
Graduating high school students who choose to enter UP and Ateneo will have a longer school break of five months, compared to the two months they currently have between graduation and the start of college.
Capanas, however, said he favors the shift because it put the country’s academic calendars in sync with those of universities abroad.
Most universities in China, Korea, Japan, the European Union and the US start classes between August and October.
Attendance
Meanwhile student attendance in northern Cebu is back to normal three months after the devastation of supertyphoon Yolanda.
As of Jan. 15, the Department of Education (DepEd) Provincial Office recorded 95 percent to 98 percent student attendance.
Classes, however, are still held under tents since the repair of classrooms have yet to start.
DepEd-Central Visayas recorded 359 rooms for replacement and 1,809 rooms for repair in Cebu province which is estimated to cost more than P699 million.
In Bogo City, 94 rooms need replacement and 165 rooms need repairs amounting to P93 million.
Victor Yntig, DepEd field supervisor and focal person of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC), encourages students to go to school despite classrooms being in a state of disrepair.
“We are still waiting for the funds to be released together with the new school building design,” Yntig said.
He said the new school building design will be more resilient to calamities.