Ilocos schools studying September school start

DAGUPAN CITY—Private school officials in the Ilocos region are meeting this month to discuss a common stand on the proposed change in the school opening date from June to September.

MacArthur Samson, president of the Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities (APSCU) in Ilocos, said he was in favor of moving the academic calendar to align it with that of major universities in the world. “But we will have to do it gradually,” he said.

“In fact, this year, we will end our semester on the first week of August and begin the new school year on the last week of August,” said Samson, also president of the University of Luzon, an autonomous higher education institution (HEI) based here.

As an autonomous HEI, the school can proceed with the school calendar change and inform the Commission of Higher Education (CHEd) about its decision. “I will notify CHEd about it after our APSCU convention,” he added.

APSCU members need to pursue a common stand because many of its 260 members, which include elementary and secondary schools, are regulated by CHEd and the Department of Education, Samson said.

“This (school calendar change) had been proposed many years ago. And I’m happy that it’s finally getting attention from the authorities,” Samson said. “Maybe they have realized that among the countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), we are the only one not yet aligned with the world’s academic calendars,” he said.

The University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas and De La Salle University are pushing for a change in their academic calendars to prepare them for the Asean Economic Community planned for 2015.

With synchronized school calendars, Samson said students wanting to study abroad would not have to wait long before attending school, which opens in September. “Foreign students who would like to study here will also be able to start immediately,” he said.

Lawyer Gonzalo Duque, president of Lyceum Northwestern University here, said he was also in favor of moving the school calendar from June to August or September. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon