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DepEd, nagsumite sa Office of the President ng opsiyon hinggil sa pagbabalik ng old school calendar
DepEd, nagsumite sa Office of the President ng opsiyon hinggil sa pagbabalik ng old school calendar
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NewsTranscript
00:00 The Senate has already started to monitor the hot weather in the country.
00:07 Here's the Department of Health and Department of Education
00:12 who laid their hands on the problem.
00:14 Kenneth Paciente is in the center of the news live.
00:18 Audrey, the Senate discussed the effect of the hot weather, especially in schools.
00:29 In a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education,
00:32 the Health Department laid out the possible effects of the rising heat index, especially in children.
00:39 According to Dr. Vito Roque of the DOH Epidemiology Bureau,
00:43 there is no possibility that children will experience heat-related illnesses despite their young age.
00:51 In fact, they are more prone to danger due to the high temperature of the weather.
00:58 Compared to adults, children experience a greater heat gain from the environment
01:05 and yet have the reduced ability to dissipate this heat by evaporation,
01:11 secondary to their greater surface area-to-body mass ratio and lower sweating capacity, respectively.
01:20 This is a reference.
01:22 And further, children have less experience recognizing heat stress symptoms,
01:29 less awareness of their hydration status, and less of an urge to drink water.
01:37 In addition, Audrey, it is said that in hot weather,
01:42 children find it harder to focus on their studies, according to a group of teachers.
01:51 7,800 of the 11,706 in percentage, 67%,
01:59 public school teachers have experienced "intolerable heat" in their classrooms,
02:06 and that the most commonly reported result of this intolerable heat
02:11 is students' difficulty in paying attention to their lessons, 86.6%,
02:19 followed by increased absenteeism, 39%, and ailments triggered by the heat, 37%.
02:26 The Department of Education has again given the authority to schools to cancel classes
02:34 if they believe that the situation in classrooms is not acceptable due to the hot weather.
02:41 That's why, Audrey, they can shift to alternative delivery mode or distance learning,
02:46 or adjusted schedule, depending on the LGU that has a school.
02:51 The frequency of the types of ADM being implemented in public schools,
02:55 we have 2.6% of them are online, modular, that's 38%, and blended, 59.4%.
03:04 You will see that the frequency for blended learning would be highest
03:08 from among the three alternative delivery modes
03:11 because many of our LGUs already have adopted adjusted schedules.
03:16 So they have face-to-face classes for the cooler hours of the day,
03:22 and they have the home-based learning for the hotter hours of the day.
03:28 So generally, we avoid 10-3 hours during the day for face-to-face.
03:36 So there are flexibilities in the schedule, like 6-9, or 3-6 in the afternoon.
03:44 Again, these are the modalities that we are adopting.
03:48 We are trying to balance at the department, we are trying to balance our recovery from the learning loss.
03:54 Now we have this heat wave again, and we also fear of the loss of lives.
03:59 Fortunately, we don't have loss of lives, and that is a good sign.
04:03 But then again, we acknowledge in the department that there is still no substitute to in-person classes.
04:09 But we cannot do otherwise at this point.
04:13 But we are just happy that our schools are adjusting very well.
04:16 In the request of many to return the old school calendar,
04:22 DepEd said that the government will delay the return of the old schedule for 2 years from the 5-year period.
04:32 The proposed 2-school-year gradual reversion was the subject of extensive consultations conducted from January to February this year
04:41 with field personnel, parents' organizations, teacher organizations, private school associations, student leaders, and various stakeholders.
04:49 As a result of the consultation, school year 2024-2025 is scheduled to end May 16, that is in the next 2 weeks, Mr. Chair.
05:00 While school year 2025-2026 will end on April 16, 2026,
05:07 and to complete the reversion, school year 2026-2027 will already start by mid-June and end in March.
05:15 DepEd also submitted a letter to the Office of the President where it stated that
05:22 there are other options other than the reversal of the school calendar.
05:27 In the meantime, we respectfully appeal to the committee to allow the President time to study the said options carefully.
05:34 DepEd commits to implement this decision accordingly.
05:38 Audrey, since yesterday until now, the Department of Education issued a notice to public schools
05:46 that in-person classes are first canceled and they can implement the alternative delivery mode
05:52 or the asynchronous learning that is called distance learning due to the intense heat of the time.
05:58 That is the latest. Back to you, Audrey.
06:00 Thank you very much, Kenneth Paciente.
06:03 paciente.