DepEd chief: Moving start of classes to September will only benefit some areas

Moving the opening of classes to September will only benefit some areas and not the entire country, Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro said Tuesday. "When I looked at the data it looks like there is very little additional advantage, benefit for schools if you look at things nationwide," Luistro said at a Senate hearing on the K to 12 basic education program. Luistro said that proposals to move the opening of classes from June to September will probably just benefit the National Capital Region (NCR). "Obviously we cannot have a different start of the school year recognizing that the country may have different ways of experiencing the weather," he said. "I think the benefit of moving it to September may be confined to maybe NCR and a few other regions, but that may not necessarily translate to additional safety realities for the other regions," he added. Two climate types PAGASA acting deputy administrator for research and development Flaviana Hilario explained that the country has two climate types: Western areas of the country such as the NCR and Central Luzon fall under type 1 climate, which experiences rain from May to September. Eastern areas such as Aurora and the Bicol region experience type 2 climate, with their rainy season lasting from October to January. "So makikita natin baliktad yung kanilang peak ng rainy season. Kung magbabago tayo ng opening of classes then yung isang side yung nasa eastern side mag-uumpisa sila na nandun yung peak ng rainy season," she said. "Based ito sa historical data natin or yung 30-year period natin...halos di nagbabago 'yung mga areas na iyan," she added. Luistro said that the DepEd already attempted to move the start of classes to September in the 1970s, but that it didn't work out because of a similar problem. The DepEd chief added that long holidays often fall during the summer months, including Holy Week and the Flores de Mayo. He also said that it is during the summer months that families in agricultural areas ask their younger members to help out in the harvest. "That has been brought to our attention the last time we consulted our stakeholders," he said. The matter, says Luistro, will have to be discussed further among DepEd, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. According to Luistro, there is no uniform date in the start of classes in the ASEAN region. "Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore start in January. The only other country that starts in September is Laos. Cambodia in October. Indonesia in July. Myanmar in June like the Philippines, Thailand in May [and] Vietnam in August," he said. - BM, GMA News