Shifting of School Calendar

Shifting of Classes: a burden? The decision of all colleges and universities to shift their school opening from June to September will have a great impact not only on the graduating high school students but also on other college students. According to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) that the Philippines is the only member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that opens classes on June. The adoption of the new school calendar was meant to lure foreign students and facilitate the enrollment abroad of Filipino students and teachers. Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez said that moving of the start of the school year would also benefit Filipinos working or relocating abroad, where most schools open on September. But did they ever consider other college students here in the country? There are students who are not amenable to that move since some of them help their parents to harvest rice and other crops on April and May so they would have money to pay their tuition fees and other necessities. If the school year will start on September, how will these students earn money for their schooling? In the case of graduating high school students, they will be delayed to college for about 5-6 months. In that time span, they must have finished at least one semester. Rodriguez however said that his measure is intended to meet urgent and reasonable need to protect health, safety and overall well-being of school children and student youth by adopting a school calendar most suited to the Philippine climactic conditons. The changing of the opening of classes will not totally address the case posed by the typhoons due to changes in the climate. We cannot predict if the new scheme will prevent delays of classes because climate is changing from time to time. If there is no choice left but to follow the new scheme in opening of classes, the Department of Education (DepEd) might as well follow the scheme too so the school calendar will be