Academic break? DepEd pushes for continuous learning, prefers academic ease

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday bucked calls for academic break, saying easing academic loads is a better alternative to help students who are facing learning struggles amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Palaging sinasabi po na academic break, ‘yan ay panawagan ng mga kabataan pero tayo po sa Kagawaran ng Edukasyon ay meron din tayong sinasabing  academic ease,” Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said during the Laging Handa briefing.

(They are always calling for an academic break but in the Department of Education, we are pushing for academic ease.)

“‘Di naman kailangan itigil ang pag-aaral. Ang kailangan po e mas maging considerate sa mga sitwasyon ng bawat bata,” he added.

(We don’t need to stop the classes. What we need is to be more considerate to the situation of every student.)

San Antonio maintained that lack of access to technology should not be a reason to stop classes as there are available printed self-learning modules.

He appealed to all the teachers to refrain from giving tight deadlines to consider students who are facing challenges in the distant learning modality.

“Nauunawaan natin na masyadong mapanghamon ang mga ginagawa at ‘yung iba ay nagsasabi na masyadong overloaded ang mga kailangan isumite ng mga bata. Kaya ang pinapakiusap po natin at base sa nailabas na guidelines ay huwag masyadong mahigpit sa mga deadlines,” he said.

(We understand the challenges and some are saying that they are loaded with lots of school work. That’s why our call, and based on DepEd guidelines, is to ease the deadlines for the requirements.)

Senate Basic Education Committee chairperson Sherwin Gatchalian also bucked calls for a nationwide academic break, saying the decision should come from basic and higher education institutions.

Some colleges and universities in the NCR Plus bubble have suspended their classes or implemented academic ease amid the rising COVID-19 cases.

Among the campuses that suspended their classes are the University of Santo Tomas, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Cavite State University, and De La Salle University. — RSJ, GMA News