MANILA, Philippines — An overwhelming majority of Filipinos were in favor of reinstating the April and May summer break for students, according to a Pulse Asia survey commissioned by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.
The poll showed that 80% of 1,200 respondents agree with the idea of bringing back the April and May summer break for students. Eleven percent cannot say if they agree or disagree, and only 8% said they disagree.
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Majority of respondents in Metro Manila (81%), Luzon (73%), Visayas (90%), and Mindanao (86%) said they want the April and May summer break for students.
The survey was conducted from June 19 to 23.
“The voice of our citizens is clear: they want to bring back the students’ vacation in the months of April and May. Although it’s not easy to revert the old school calendar, we will hold a hearing to thoroughly study the steps to promote the welfare of our teachers and students,” said Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on basic education.
The Department of Education spokesperson Michael Poa earlier said that it would form a group to study the proposal to the old academic calendar to avoid holding classes in the summer heat.
For years, DepEd resisted synchronizing its calendar with the new academic calendar in higher education, which the Commission on Higher Education recommended for state universities in 2019 to cover the same period as the government’s fiscal year.
However, DepEd had to delay its class opening in 2020 from June to October when it transitioned to blended learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, it has scheduled class openings in August.
A survey of around 11,000 teachers conducted in the last week of March found that at least 67% of public school teachers experienced "intolerable" heat inside the classroom, distracting students and affecting their attendance. — Gaea Katreena Cabico with reports from Cristina Chi