Teachers at the Tanza elementary School in Navotas City clean their room on July 26, 2024, days after floods brought by torrential rains submerged the school. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — On Monday, July, 29, the Philippines is set to open school year 2024-2025, with students, teachers, parents, and many other stakeholders facing the same old problems and some new ones.

• Marcos Jr., DepEd approve July 29 opening of classes for SY 2024-2025

The reopening of schools this year is a month earlier than in 2023 as part of the government's "aggressive" plan to revert back to the old school calendar by 2025.

According to the Department of Education's (DepEd) data as of Friday, July 26, over 18.3 million students have enrolled for this school year.

PREPARATIONS

As in previous years, the preparation for the school opening this year was marred by challenges, both man-made and by nature.

A month before, Vice President Sara Duterte resigned as DepEd secretary, seen as a political move to break away from her alliance with the administration.

• Delay school opening by 1 week in typhoon-hit areas — teachers' group

While considered a setback, several teachers' groups also saw the vacancy as an opportunity for President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to finally appoint a "non-political" figure to head DepEd, the Philippines' largest bureaucracy.

• Teachers' group says next DepEd chief should not be a politician

Marcos named Sen. Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara as DepEd chief and asked him to focus on improving the employability of Filipino students after graduation and work on improving the poor performance of students, particularly on STEM, as shown in recent international assessment examinations.

• Marcos wants Angara to focus on improving K-12 program

Angara has promised to address this, as well as issues on salary increase, work overload, performance reviews, among others.

• Angara forms task force to review teachers' evaluation scheme, workload

CLIMATE CHANGE, OTHER ISSUES

_{People brave the sudden heavy downpour along Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Bataan Road, Quezon City on  May 9, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File}

The move to revert to the old school calendar of June to March was expedited due to extreme heat earlier this year that forced schools to suspend classes. 

• Kids study in overheated slum as Philippines shuts schools

A study by the World Weather Attribution found that the extreme heat experienced in Asia this year was made "45 times more likely" because of human-induced climate change.

• Philippine students learn about climate change the hard way

While some students will have avoided scorching heat on Monday's school opening, many others are unlucky after being ravaged by a typhoon, another common weather disturbance in the Philippines. 

Twin typhoons Butchoy and Carina, as well as the enhanced southwest monsoon or habagat, affected some 12,800 schools, of which 246 reported flooding and 425 sheltered evacuees.

Most of the “severely damaged” schools are in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and Central Luzon.  

The aftermath of the typhoons will prevent 979 schools from joining the opening of classes on Monday, according to DepEd data on Sunday.

• 738 schools to postpone start of classes due to habagat, Carina

For the TDC, moving the opening of classes is the right way to go, citing the effects of typhoon Carina, as well as the lack of learning materials 

"Teachers Dignity Coalition strongly recommends the postponement of the opening of classes by at least one week in affected areas, and ideally, nationwide... This postponement will afford DepEd the opportunity to thoroughly prepare and address the logistical and instructional needs for the upcoming school year," the TDC said.

AN ENDLESS CYCLE?

_{Grade 4 teacher Kristine Claire Valencia-Villaspin and her husband, Rodel, clean up her classroom at Damurog Elementary School in Alcala, Cagayan on November 18, 2020, as up to shin-deep mud remains, left by the flood brought by Typhoon Ulysses, in parts of the barangay near the Cagayan River. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File}

However, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) criticized the government for its supposed failure to put up resilient infrastructure that can weather extreme climate conditions given the country's vulnerability to such.

"The President claims the Philippines is resilient and prepared for calamity damages. But the facts on the ground tell a different story—with not even a hundred evacuation centers built in two years, our public schools are once again compelled to receive our hapless kababayans who need emergency shelter," ACT chairperson Vladimer Quetua said in a statement.

• Children and disasters: How to take care of kids while stuck in evacuation centers

According to weather bureau Pagasa, the Philippines will likely experience 13 to 18 tropical cyclones this year, lower than the 19 to 20 average in previous decades.

"Are we doomed to have education constantly disrupted every time there is a calamity? Where are the much-touted disaster-resilient classrooms? Where are the dedicated evacuation centers?" Quetua questioned.

ACT urged the government to come up with a comprehensive, long-term plan as well as an efficient system for quick repair to minimize class disruptions.

"It's time to go beyond band-aid solutions like class shifting and temporary spaces. Quality education cannot happen in makeshift classrooms or under trees. Our students and teachers deserve better," Quetua said.

Save the Children Philippines likewise urged DepEd to ensure that "learners can continue their education in a safe and healthy environment" as they warned that children face "heightened risks of displacement, exposure to diseases, and interruptions to their education" during typhoons and other calamities.

Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party-list Rep. France Castro added that while she understood the need for blended learning due to shortage of rooms, this should not be the norm for the students in the coming years.

"Dapat hindi ito magtagal. Sana hindi ito maging norm, itong blended learning dahil napatunayan na yan, sa pandemya na hindi siya naging effective," she said.

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