The Manila Times
THE school year starts today, June 8, with major reforms in place for both learners and teachers. The Department of Education (DepEd) said on Sunday that the “package of reforms and support measures” for this school year will benefit over 26 million learners, “strengthen the delivery of education across over 45,000 public schools,” and provide greater support to almost 900,000 teachers. “We will further ensure that children’s learning is better and that our teachers are more supported. We made these reforms to make the system clearer, the teaching more effective, and more focused on the needs of learners,” DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara said in Filipino. Angara identified the changes as the three-term school calendar; revised assessment and grading guidelines that put “greater emphasis on learner progress, meaningful feedback, and instructional support”; strengthened Senior High School (SHS) curriculum; and “simplified lesson planning requirements.” The three-term calendar “provides longer and more coherent learning periods, better pacing of lessons, and dedicated time for consolidation, remediation, and enrichment activities,” Angara said. The update in the assessment and grading guidelines “strengthens formative assessment practices, introduces phased descriptive grading in the early grades, and promotes the use of assessment results to guide remediation and enrichment interventions.” The strengthened SHS curriculum “offers more flexible learning pathways, strengthens foundational competencies, expands elective options, and better prepares graduates for higher education, employment, entrepreneurship, and lifelong learning,” he said. “To help teachers focus more on instruction, DepEd has simplified lesson planning requirements through the ILAW Framework — Intentions, Learning Experience, Assessing Learning, and Ways Forward. The policy streamlines documentation, prohibits additional templates beyond prescribed standards, and allows the responsible use of artificial intelligence as a support tool while preserving teacher judgment and accountability,” the department said. It is also implementing the Learning Continuity in Emergencies policy, which provides schools with clearer protocols for sustaining learning during disruptions such as typhoons, floods, extreme heat, earthquakes, and other emergencies. Public school teachers will receive a teaching allowance of P10,000 in line with Republic Act 11997 or the Kabalikat sa Pagtuturo Act, which Angara authored with fellow lawmakers when he was a senator. “These reforms go hand in hand with our commitment to improve the welfare of our teachers,” Angara said. “While we are improving the system of education, we are also ensuring that our teachers who are at the frontline of education have more support.” The DepEd said it has briefed field offices, school leaders, and teachers so that the implementation of new policies will be smooth. DepEd also said Brigada Eskwela last June 1 to 5 “naturally evolved into ‘Brigada Pamilya’ where entire households share the responsibility of cleaning, repairing, and decorating classrooms together.” “The convergence of community hands transformed the Brigada Eskwela week into a holistic festival featuring wellness, health care, and protection programs designed for entire households — and even their pets,” it said. At the Taguig Integrated School, parents and educators started the cleanup with a Zumba or dance-exercise session. A free medical and dental mission for neighborhood families highlighted the cleanup activities at Banaba Elementary School in San Mateo, Rizal. At Central I Elementary School in San Carlos City, families “gathered not only to secure their children’s campus but also to protect their households through rabies awareness seminars and free pet vaccinations and deworming services,” the DepEd said. On Sunday, the Philippine National Police (PNP) assured parents and guardians that the entire police force is “fully prepared and strategically positioned” to ensure the safety of everyone going back to school. PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said more than 55,000 police personnel will be deployed under the PNP’s Oplan Balik-Eskwela. “This comprehensive deployment includes organic police officers dedicated to high-visibility campus patrols, traffic management, and the manning of police assistance desks, reinforced by auxiliary forces and community partners,” said Nartatez. The PNP has set up 9,319 police assistance desks in schools and clustered campuses, and will field 9,525 mobile patrol units to strengthen police visibility and emergency response in school areas.
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