DepEd Urged to Halt Trimester Rollout: Teachers’ Coalition Says Deferral Still Possible

Category: Breaking News

Coalition Issues Direct Appeal

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition on Monday pressed the Department of Education to suspend implementation of the three-term academic calendar, declaring that it remains feasible to revert to the existing two-semester system before the next school year opens. Coalition chairperson Benjo Basas stated that DepEd Order No. 15, series of 2024, which mandates the shift effective School Year 2025-2026, was issued without adequate consultation with classroom teachers who will shoulder the logistical burden.

Timeline and Policy Background

DepEd first floated the trimester proposal in late 2023 as part of efforts to compress learning recovery after pandemic disruptions. Under the plan, the 10-month school year would split into three 13-week terms separated by one-week breaks, with an additional two-week semestral break eliminated. Officials argued the structure would allow faster remediation and better alignment with international credit systems. However, internal DepEd memos obtained by Global1 News show that regional directors raised concerns over teacher workload and classroom shortages as early as March 2024, yet the final order was released unchanged in September.

Teacher Workload and Resource Realities

Basas emphasized that the compressed calendar would force teachers to prepare three sets of learning materials, conduct three grading periods, and manage three reporting cycles within the same number of school days. Public school teachers already handle an average of 45 learners per class under the K-to-12 program; adding another term would require reconfiguring lesson plans for 15 additional instructional weeks without corresponding increases in plantilla positions. Data from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies indicate that 62 percent of public schools still operate on multiple shifts, making the insertion of an extra term logistically unfeasible without extending teacher duty hours beyond the eight-hour legal limit.

Impact on Learners and Families

Parents’ groups echoed the coalition’s warning. The National Parents-Teachers Association Federation noted that shorter breaks between terms would reduce family time for agricultural households during planting seasons in provinces such as Nueva Ecija and Bukidnon. Students in senior high school tracks requiring on-the-job training would face scheduling conflicts with partner industries that follow the traditional two-semester cycle. A rapid survey conducted by the coalition among 2,847 teachers across 14 regions found that 78 percent believe the trimester model will lower instructional quality due to rushed coverage of learning competencies.

Expert Analysis on Learning Outcomes

Education researcher Dr. Maria Cynthia Rose Banzon-Bautista of the University of the Philippines argued that the trimester proposal lacks empirical grounding in Philippine conditions. Her 2023 study on post-pandemic learning loss showed that sustained, longer instructional blocks rather than fragmented terms produced stronger gains in foundational literacy. She warned that frequent grading cycles could intensify test-centric teaching at the expense of critical thinking development, a concern already flagged in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment results where Filipino 15-year-olds ranked near the bottom in creative problem-solving.

Democratic Consultation Deficit

The coalition framed the issue as a matter of procedural justice. Basas cited Republic Act 9155, the Governance of Basic Education Act, which requires meaningful stakeholder participation before major policy shifts. No nationwide public hearing on the trimester calendar was held; instead, DepEd relied on online surveys that reached fewer than 12,000 respondents, mostly school heads. Teachers in far-flung areas without reliable internet access were effectively excluded, undermining the participatory democracy the department claims to uphold.

Comparative Lessons from Other Reforms

Past DepEd calendar adjustments offer cautionary parallels. The 2012 shift to a June-to-March school year, intended to avoid typhoon disruptions, later required mid-year corrections after flooding patterns changed. Similarly, the 2020 shift to blended learning during COVID-19 was rolled out with minimal pilot testing, resulting in documented learning gaps that persist today. The coalition contends that the trimester plan repeats the same pattern of top-down decision-making that privileges administrative targets over classroom realities.

Possible Alternatives on the Table

Basas proposed maintaining the two-semester framework while introducing voluntary enrichment modules during the existing Christmas and summer breaks. This approach, he said, would allow targeted remediation without overhauling the entire academic structure. Several divisions in the Cordillera Administrative Region have already piloted such modular catch-up sessions with measurable improvements in reading proficiency, according to division-level monitoring reports.

Next Steps and Political Context

The coalition announced plans to file a petition with the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture this week, seeking legislative intervention if DepEd declines to issue a deferment order. With national elections scheduled for 2025, lawmakers facing re-election may find the teachers’ appeal politically salient, especially given the 1.2 million public school teachers who constitute a significant voting bloc. DepEd has yet to issue an official response to the coalition’s statement as of press time.

This is Bella Reyes for Global1 News, reporting from Manila. 🇵🇭