Recognizing that every canceled school day carries long-term effects on children’s learning, the Department of Education (DepEd) is working with other government agencies to establish a unified and timely guideline for class suspension announcements.
At a recent inter-agency meeting joined by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Commission on Higher Education (Ched), the Philippine Science High School (PSHS), and the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), DepEd moved to develop uniform national protocol on class suspensions to rationalize class suspension guidelines and minimize learning loss.
‘Gaya ng sabi ni Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., kailangan nating harapin at paghandaan ang mga hamon ng kalamidad sa edukasyon.Hindi natin kayang pigilan ang bagyo, pero kaya nating paghusayin ang ating paghahanda para maging mabilis, malinaw, at maayos ang mga desisyon kapag kaligtasan at kinabukasan na ng mga bata ang nakataya,’ Education Secretary Juan Edgardo ‘Sonny’ Angara said.
Worsening impact of the climate crisis on education
Findings from the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) show that every additional day of school closure lowers a Grade 4 student’s achievement by up to 12.4 points in mathematics and 13.9 points in science.
The data further suggest that losing just 10 learning days can drop a child’s science score from 500 to below 380.
Meanwhile, EDCOM II data also revealedl that during School Year 2023-2024, the country lost more than 20 school days due to climate-related events, disrupting classes for over 11 million learners-or about 42 percent of the public school population.
DepEd said this pattern reflects the worsening impact of the climate crisis on education.
Angara said that the challenge now is to ‘adapt.’
‘Disasters will keep coming, but learning should not stop. We need clear, coordinated, and science-based decisions that keep our students both safe and learning,’ Angara said.
Advisory template
During the meeting, the agencies agreed to develop a DILG advisory template to help local governments issue timely and consistent suspension announcements, require regional and division offices to report the frequency and impact of suspensions, and publish official data on lost school days to inform national and local policy decisions.
DepEd also plans to strengthen its make-up class policy and Alternative Delivery Modes (ADM) to keep learners engaged when in-person classes are canceled. While modular and online learning options have helped sustain instruction during disruptions, DepEd noted that these cannot fully replace face-to-face learning, especially for younger students who still depend on close teacher guidance.
‘We understand that safety must always come first, but we also need to be ready to help students recover from lost time. Our goal is to make every day of learning count, rain or shine,’ he concluded.