DepEd eyes additional hours, Saturday make-up sessions

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Education (DepEd) is eyeing the possibility of adding one to two hours of classes and opening Saturday make-up sessions for schools with multiple shifts to help complete the 180 mandatory school days.

A representative of the DepEd made the report to President Benigno Aquino III during a cabinet meeting at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in Camp Aguinaldo, which was aired in local news channels.

According to the DepEd, classes have been suspended for seven days last week and this week due to continuous inclement weather.

As of Tuesday, 52 divisions of the DepEd has been affected which translates to 2,644 schools and 3.6 million students. Fifty-one schools are being used as evacuation centers.

Aside from the additional school hours and Saturday classes, DepEd will also deploy teachers of their alternative learning system to teach in evacuation centers.