Nationwide active-attack school drills postponed to September

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has postponed the Nationwide Simultaneous School Safety Drill for Active Attack Incidents originally scheduled for Tuesday, August 25.

In a statement on Monday, August 24, DepEd said the activity will be rescheduled to the first week of September 2026. However, the specific date has yet to be announced.

"The additional time will allow the Department to ensure that the activity is fully aligned with the recommendations of weather, disaster preparedness, child protection, and psychosocial support experts, particularly in ensuring that preparedness measures safeguard both the physical and psychological well-being of learners," DepEd said.

The agency said the rescheduled drill will be age-appropriate and trauma-informed, focusing on basic safety, communication and recovery while directing schools to avoid graphic or hyper-realistic simulations that could cause unnecessary fear among students.

The postponement came after psychiatrists and experts from the Philippine Psychiatric Association and the Philippine Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry urged the government to defer the drill.

Current evidence does not show that hyper-realistic violence simulations reduce casualties or prevent incidents, while studies indicate they can cause lasting psychological harm, according to the groups.

"Current evidence does not show that these simulations reduce casualties or prevent incidents, while multiple studies demonstrate that they can cause lasting psychological harm across age groups," the psychiatry groups said in a joint statement dated August 22.

On August 12, DepEd ordered public and private elementary and secondary schools nationwide to conduct the simultaneous safety drill for an active attack.

Under the memorandum, schools were instructed to follow their localized contingency plans for active-attack incidents.

The memorandum was issued following a deadly school shooting involving minors in Tacloban in June. Another shooting occurred at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University on August 18, days after DepEd issued the memorandum.