According to the school calendar released by the Department of Education (DepEd), this year’s Christmas break for kindergarten to senior high students in public schools will start on December 15, 2019.
The calendar for school year 2019-2020 set the start of the Christmas break on Dec. 15 and the resumption of classes after the holidays on Jan. 6, 2020, according to DepEd Order 007, series of 2019.
“The Christmas break shall begin on Sunday, December 15, 2019. Classes shall resume on Monday, January 6, 2020,” it said in a statement. Also, take note that the end of the academic year also remains April 3, 2020.
According to a report by GMA News, DepEd spokesperson Undersecretary Nepomuceno Malaluan, class suspensions in previous months are unlikely to affect the schedule of Christmas break.
“The calendar also ay localized naman with the adjustments that have to be made in light of suspensions. So far, walang indication that we will deviate from that school calendar,” he added.
If ever there is a need for adjustments, Malaluan said the DepEd central office is leaving the decisions up to the regional, division and school administrators.
“There are municipalities that suspend more, kasi LGUs [local government units] ‘yung suspensions eh and there are municipalities that suspend less kaya ‘yung interventions for make up of lost periods is more of a localized matter. It will depend on regions and then divisions and even school level,” he added.
Deped spokesperson Usec. Analyn Sevilla, however, noted that private schools may implement a different schedule.
“The department order is in effect for all public schools. Private schools have their own school calendar hence Christmas break for private school students are set by its school administrators,” Sevilla said in a text message to GMA News.
Last year, DepEd already established that an earlier Christmas break schedule will happen in 2019 – one week earlier than the original schedule – to give both learners and teachers “enough time to spend with their families” during the Yuletide season.
DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, earlier said that moving the Christmas break to an earlier schedule was based on the suggestions of the Senate, the Executive, the Congress, and the parents. She also emphasized the “importance for students to spend more time with their families this Christmas holiday.
Valuing the importance of spending quality time with the family, DepEd believes that the Christmas season “provides an opportunity for Filipino learners to strengthen their emotional bonds with their family.”
As with the emphasis of Malaluan, DepEd reminded schools that it is their responsibility to hold make-up classes or undertake Alternative Delivery Modes (ADMs) if needed to help “compensate for unplanned suspensions of classes such as natural and manmade calamities” given that the conduct of such activities “must be agreed upon by school heads, teachers, and concerned parents.”
Last year, Christmas break was also moved earlier from Saturday, Dec. 22 to Saturday, Dec. 15.
In an order signed on Wednesday, November 28, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said the DepEd moved the break a week earlier so that students can spend more time with their families.
The order also only covered public elementary and high school students.
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