Classrooms will be ‘hot as ovens if Christmas break moved’

DepED Secretary Leonor Briones. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

Moving the Christmas break earlier for students would mean they have to go to school during summer when classrooms are as “hot as ovens.”

Education Secretary Leonor Briones raised this possibility on Monday when Senator Grace Poe formally proposed during a Senate hearing to have an early vacation for students to ease the traffic during the holiday season.

“Some parents have approached me and some individuals have said that perhaps we can probably request schools to have an early Christmas vacation because it is time of the year that everyone is trying to run their errands and doing some many different activities,” Poe said during a hearing of the Senate subcommittee on finance on the proposed budget of Department of Education (DepEd) for 2017.

“Now I know that we can’t disturb the allotted calendar year for children but perhaps if we extend during the summer months as opposed, and shortening the time when it’s critical like in December, it may actually be an effort that is immediately felt by our commuters. But it’s just a thought,” she said.

The senator then asked Briones if her proposal was “doable” even in Metro Manila and in Cebu.

Responding to Poe’s query, the Cabinet official reiterated that her department was seriously considering the proposal. For public schools, Briones said, the Christmas break starts on December 22 and ends on January 2.

“But we also noticed that the build-up of Christmas traffic usually accelerates even during the Christmas break for the children because if you have a break on December 22, the build-up is really on (December) 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26. So what I’m saying is that we have to look at the statistics and the projections …Does it happen during the school season or does it still happen even after classes are already closed?” she said.

“Other (schools), they close December 15, public school December 22 pero nag-accelerate pa rin (but it still accelerates) because Christmas is what is Christmas  so we also have to look at that also,” Briones said.

If the Christmas break will be moved earlier, the DepEd chief said classes might be extended and students would have to go to school during summer.

But Briones warned that summer is also the time for “summer diseases.”

“Right now, the capacity of our school buildings, they are not the most comfortable and are not built for very very hot summer days because usually we don’t have class during summer… I have visited classrooms which even until now are extremely hot because of the size of the window would affect their learning capacity,” she said.

“And the second is the possibility of a spillover to Holy Week… everything is scheduled kasi e…and to move classes to summer, our classrooms aren’t built for summer. You have all diseases and children have (to enter a classroom that is) as hot as ovens during summer time.”

“But we appreciate your interest in contributing to the solution of our traffic woes without resorting to emergency powers and quite agree with that kind of perspective,” Briones added.

While she recognized the “valid” points raised by the DepEd chief, Poe insisted on her proposal to move the Christmas break for students.

“I’d like to hear what your decision will be, maybe when you’re ready at the soonest possible time (because) some of our constituents are also very curious as to what solutions you can offer regarding this,” the senator added.

Poe chairs the Senate committee on public services, deliberating on the proposed emergency powers to address the traffic problem in the country.

Briones, in an interview after the hearing, said they might be able to come up with a decision probably on the first week of October.

“Kasi hihingi pa kami ng datos tungkol sa traffic flow e (We have yet to ask for data on traffic flow),” she said, adding that the data would come from the Department of Transportation. RAM/rga

RELATED STORIES

Don’t inconvenience Christmas travelers, transport execs told

Traffic ills? Just enforce rules, Poe tells admin