DepEd urged to shift to climate-adaptive school calendar

The 35 days lost in the current school year due to calamities have prompted calls for the Department of Education (DepEd) to implement a climate-adaptive academic calendar and campuses to forfend further learning disruptions in the future.

Bohol Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor, chairperson of the House Committee on Civil Service and Professional Regulation, said it is high time that the DepEd heed proposals to enforce a different school calendar that “adapts to the abnormal new climate patterns” given the reports of learning losses caused by typhoons.

“Last summer, I warned of the strong typhoons and floods that will come after the El Niño. But many still insisted on opening the school year in July. The DepEd back then recommended the wrong school calendar policy to Malacañang,” Tutor lamented.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced an abrupt shift in the academic timeline, transitioning the June-March calendar to August-May.

Due to the extreme heat brought by El Niño, putting students' and teachers’ health at risk and prompting widespread onsite class suspensions, the DepEd decided earlier this year to revert to the old school calendar beginning 2024-2025.

However, the subsequent tropical cyclones and natural disasters caused by La Niña also have their own downsides.

Last week, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the Cordillera Administrative Region has the highest number of class disruptions at 35, followed by Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Region, CALABARZON, and Central Luzon with 29 each, with some suspensions caused by man-made hazards such as fire.

Tutor expressed hope that the DepEd may “learn the lesson of climate adaptation,” arguing that typhoons and floods are much more devastating than intense El Niño summers.

“We must have a climate-adaptive school calendar and school buildings. Let us avoid having classes during the monsoon, typhoon, and hot months as much as we possibly can,” she stressed.

Given the spate of weather disturbances from July to December, Tutor said the DepEd should come up with necessary interventions, including constructing multi-story school buildings and elevated walkways so that classes could continue even if the ground level is flooded.

“We need more multi-story school buildings and elevated walkways so that even if the ground level is flooded, classes can still continue on the upper floors,” she added.

In addition, she also suggested that school buildings on the eastern seaboard should be designed differently.

“Perhaps cuboid and dome designs are better for these areas. We badly need new designs for school buildings in typhoon-frequented areas. We need underground power lines and telecom cables,” the lawmaker averred.

To compensate for the learning losses, Tutor proposed the DepEd should maximize January to mid-July for in-person classes, including holding Saturday classes but with precautions against all outdoor activities from mid-March to mid-May.

According to the state weather bureau PAGASA, typhoons may continue to enter the Philippines until the first quarter of 2025.

Public schools are usually used as evacuation centers due to a lack of permanent evacuation shelters in local government units, particularly near high-risk coastal towns.

The DepEd only allows the use of schools as emergency evacuation centers for a maximum of 15 days. However, due to the severity of typhoon aftermaths, this rule is often exceeded.

Earlier, the DepEd announced that roughly P3.6 billion will be needed to reconstruct and repair public schools and other learning assets damaged by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine that wreaked havoc in various regions in late October.