DepEd: Over 7,000 schools remain under ADM

MANILA, Philippines — Over 7,000 schools remain under alternative delivery mode (ADM) as of yesterday amid extreme heat experienced nationwide, according to the Department of Education.

DepEd data showed Western Visayas had the most number of schools under ADM at 1,613, followed by Central Luzon at 1,254, Bicol region at 1,181, Zamboanga peninsula at 666, Mimaropa at 462 and Cagayan Valley at 414.

Meanwhile, 252 schools are under ADM in Metro Manila, 407 in Central Visayas, 366 in Soccsksargen, 319 in Ilocos region, 268 in Calabarzon and 259 in the Cordillera Administrative Region.

In Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao region and Caraga, there are a total of 273 schools under ADM.

There are 47,678 public schools nationwide.

Onsite classes have been suspended for most of April due to extreme heat, prompting DepEd to craft a more aggressive transition toward the old school calendar.

Various groups have been calling for the immediate return to the old June-March school calendar, citing the heat experienced by students in March and April.

Even lawmakers sought to intervene by filing proposals to shift to the old calendar, stressing that the current school calendar running from August to June is inappropriate in the country.

DepEd previously issued DepEd Order No. 3, s. 2024 on Feb. 19, adjusting the end of the current school year from June 15 to May 31. The same order also set the opening and closing dates for SY 2024-2025 as July 29, 2024 and May 16, 2025, respectively.

If President Marcos approves DepEd’s aggressive transition, the agency may have to abandon the phased transition, which could only take full hold three school years from now.

Overload pay

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) yesterday urged the government to pour substantial funding into the teaching overload pay to ensure that DepEd can fully implement its recent order rationalizing workload in public schools and payment of teaching overload.

Welcoming the signing of DepEd Order 005 series of 2024 earlier this week, ACT said the policy is a long-overdue recognition of public school teachers’ labor rights.

Under the DO, teachers are prescribed to work only eight hours of service per day, six of which should be devoted to actual classroom instruction while the remaining two hours should be “for work incidental to the normal teaching duties which may be spent within or outside the school premises.”

Other teaching-related work needs to be compensated under Republic Act 4670 or the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, DepEd noted.

The payment of teaching overload should be made every quarter “subject to the extent of allotment for the purpose” but if funds are insufficient, teaching overload hours shall be converted to earned vacation service credits, DepEd added.

To ensure there will be no delays or non-payment of overload pay, ACT said the government should allocate significant funding to overload pay.

“This is a great feat borne out of our militant and progressive union, along with our genuine representative in Congress... unrelenting fight and assertion of teachers’ rights stipulated in the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers through consistent consultations with teachers, lobbying in Senate and Congress and dialogues with DepEd and other concerned agencies,” ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said at a press conference.