MANILA — Classes in all public elementary and high schools in the Philippines for School Year 2023-2024 will begin on August 29, the Department of Education (DepEd) announced Thursday.

Pursuant to Republic Act No. 11480, private schools may decide to begin their classes on any date starting the “first Monday of June but not later than last day of August," the department said in its advisory.

The announcement came despite calls from lawmakers, teachers' groups, and other stakeholders to reimplement the old school calendar that was in force before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was to address concerns such as heat exhaustion experienced by students and teachers during the dry season.

Before the coronavirus, classes opened in June and ended in March.

A Pulse Asia survey commissioned by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian last July showed 80 percent of Filipinos wanted to bring back the school break to April and May.

The DepEd earlier said it was studying the proposal and admitted that should it approve the recommendation, it might take 3-5 years to slowly transition to the old school schedule.

• Return to pre-pandemic school calendar may take 3-5 years, says DepEd
• Marcos: Gov't studying proposals to adjust school break due to hot weather, COVID-19

— Reports from Raffy Cabristante and Joyce Balancio, ABS-CBN News

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