Summer remedial classes now mandatory, says DepEd

The Department of Education (DepEd) has made summer remedial classes mandatory for students who fall below the lowest reading comprehension levels, ending the practice of letting students pass even if they do not meet the required competencies.

According to Education Secretary Sonny Angara, the agency now uses the Beginning of School Year (BOSY) and End of School Year (EOSY) assessments to determine learning gaps.

Those with the lowest scores are now required to take part in a remediation program over the summer.

“Basta ikaw ay nasa below level, yung lowest level of reading comprehension, required ka mag-summer review,” he said.

(If you are below level, the lowest level of reading comprehension, you are required to do a summer review.)

Angara noted that many children have already benefited from this approach.

“Very supportive ang ating mga alkalde, ang ating mga local governments. Kaya natutugunan yung literacy problems at na iangat yung learning ng isang bata,” he said.

(Our mayors and local governments are very supportive. That's why we're able to address literacy problems and improve a child’s learning.)

He emphasized that students are responsive to the summer program, which is typically conducted in small groups.

“Actually nakita namin, very responsive ang mga bata... Merong mga paaralan, dalawa o tatlo lang yung papasok sa summer program. So talagang tutok yung mga teacher sa kanila,” Angara said.

(We’ve actually seen that students are very responsive… Some schools only have two or three students in the summer program. So the teachers are really focused on them.)

The secretary also addressed concerns from parents who may not want their children to attend the program. “Eh, required do ito eh. Kasi dati voluntary... Pero yung mga naiiwan, parang hindi sila nag-re-volunteer,” he explained.

(This is required now. It used to be voluntary… But those who got left behind didn’t volunteer.)

One of the main issues DepEd identified was that teachers, who were also tasked with tutoring students they had taught during the school year, would sometimes just pass the students to avoid extra work.

“Pinag-aralan namin yung kabuuan... pinapasa na lang ni teacher para hindi na siya mabigyan ng extra na trabaho,” Angara said.

(We studied the whole situation... the teacher would just pass the student to avoid being given extra work.)

To address this, DepEd has reassigned who handles summer programs.

“Meron mag-monitor, pero hindi yung teacher na nagturo sa mga bata na yun... Meron tayong mga teachers na nakafocus talaga sa summer remediation,” he said.

(Someone will monitor, but not the teacher who taught those students… We now have teachers who are really focused on summer remediation.)

Teachers who handle summer classes will also receive additional credit.

“Bibigyan ng extra credits ito. At hindi yung regular teacher ang magbibigay ng assistance dito sa mga bata na kailangan ng summer remediation,” Angara added.

(They will be given extra credits. And it won’t be the regular teacher providing the assistance to students needing summer remediation.) — BAP, GMA Integrated News