Proving that it will not be the Grinch who stole Christmas from young learners, the Department of Education said it will not ban holiday decorations in public school classrooms as long as these are kept simple and are not permanent.
DepEd spokesman Michael Poa made the announcement yesterday, September 1, as the country marked the start of the so-called “longest Christmas” that runs for almost four months.
“We see no problem [with Christmas decorations] because these are not permanent. Of course, they can decorate their classrooms,” Poa said in a television interview.
“They can decorate as long as these are simple. What we do not want are those [visuals] that are permanently placed on classroom walls,” he added.
Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte earlier ordered public schools to remove visual aids such as alphabet charts and multiplication tables, pictures of national heroes or past and present presidents, and even crucifixes from classroom walls.
Bare walls greeted more than 22.7 million learners who trooped back to school this week following Duterte’s directive.
Poa, however, warned against holding contests for best Christmas decorations in classrooms.
“We do not want our teachers to be burdened by these contests. They end up paying for the decorations,” he said.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro earlier denounced the bare classroom walls policy of DepEd.
“The DepEd order is extremely deplorable,” Castro said. “The government should instead address the lack of classroom space and reduce class size so that teachers can focus more on students.”