DepEd scraps plan to cut summer break to 2 weeks

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) on Wednesday said it was abandoning a plan to shorten the summer break into two weeks.

“It was among the many options we were considering but noting the objections from our stakeholders, we will no longer propose a two-week break,” Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio told reporters in a Viber message.

Last month, San Antonio said the department was thinking of extending the school year and shortening the two-month summer break into two weeks.

The DepEd faced a backlash after the plans were publicly raised.

Several groups and social media users said that students and teachers were already burned out and it also did not address the challenges of distance learning.

On Tuesday, the DepEd extended the school year, moving the last day of classes from June 11 to July 10, 2021.

The move was made to “address learning gaps” and give teachers time to ready materials for distance learning.

JPV