The Department of Education said classes for School Year 2023 to 2024 shall start on Aug. 29.
An advisory posted on DepEd’s social media page on Thursday clarified that the said date was only applicable to public schools.
“Private schools may choose to open classes on any date starting the first Monday of June but not later than the last day of August, pursuant to Republic Act 11480,” DepEd said.
Meanwhile, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers’ (ACT) asked DepEd to address concerns over teachers’ proportional vacation pay.
“We would love to hear from DepEd regarding the provision of proportional vacation pay for our teachers because until now they have yet to release the guidelines or policy paper on the observance of this proportional vacation pay because our teachers should be guaranteed their rest,” said ACT secretary-general Raymond Basilio.
The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) also previously appealed to DepEd to consider reverting the country’s school calendar to its previous schedule, in which the school break falls in April and May.
“During the previous school year, we experienced extreme heat in schools, which was a terrible ordeal for teachers and students. Many fell ill. Due to the heat, many schools were compelled to switch back to less desirable online and modular learning. Classes were also cut short for the same reason. These were done to mitigate the impact of the heat, which was exacerbated by our crowded, poorly ventilated, and inadequately insulated classrooms,” said Benjo Basas, the group’s national chairperson.
The department previously said that it will take around three to five years to revert back to the previous school calendar system because a certain number of school days must be maintained.