DepEd reminds schools to conduct make-up classes

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) reminded all schools yesterday to conduct make-up classes for days missed after the suspension of classes last Tuesday and Wednesday due to storm “Juaning.”

Cristina Ganzon, DepEd Communications Unit director, said make-up classes apply to schools in Metro Manila, Regions I, II, III, IV-A, IV-B, and V where most classes were suspended.

Ganzon said Education Secretary Armin Luistro wants school year 2011-12 to have 180 actual teaching-learning days for all students in basic education.

Luistro said typhoons and weather disturbances should not be allowed to disrupt the education of children.

In DepEd Memorandum Order No. 28, Luistro decreed that the total number of school days should be 202 days, with the last day of school set on March 30, 2012.

Luistro also instructed public school heads to ensure that 180 days of the 202 school days should be “teaching-learning days.”

Private schools may opt to deviate from the DepEd calendar but the 180 days of teaching days must be enforced.

After Juaning, classes in pre-school, elementary, and high school, both public and private, resumed yesterday, except for pre-school to Grade 2 classes in Tonsuya Elementary School in Malabon, which remained submerged in floodwaters.

In Region I where public storm signal No. 1 remained yesterday, classes opened in pre-schools, but were automatically suspended in Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, and La Union.

The same is true for Region II where classes in all preschools have been suspended by Regional Director Benito Tumamao.