A quick school year: DepEd to force back the June-March school year.

The usual June to March academic year is suggested to be forced in the school year 2025-2026. This is due to the extreme heat that the school calendar is in. The new schedule has been suggested to President Marcos.

According to DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas, the DepEd has passed a paper to the office of the president about the “aggressive” alternative to ending the school year 2024-2025.

Though the paper has been passed to the office of the president, the conditions will not be disclosed as President Marcos is still studying the proposal.

During this aggressive transition, the students only have 165 days instead of the usual 180 to 220 days as prescribed by the law, DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas said.

In addition, the DepEd official also said that if the school year ends on March 31, 2025, and begins in June 2025, students might need to take a shorter end-of-school break.

The chairperson of the Senate in the Basic Education Committee, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, favors this aggressive transition due to the fact that the weather on the current school calendar is unpredictable.

DepEd Order No. 3, Series of 2024, which moved the current SY's end date from June 15 to May 31, 2024, was released by the DepEd on February 19. The opening and closing dates for SY 2024–2025 were also established in the same order, as they are set to start on July 29, 2024, and end on May 16, 2025.

News source: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2024/05/01/2351720/deped-open-early-return-june-march-academic-year