Learning, interrupted
The Department of Education (DepEd) mandates that 205 school days should be strictly devoted to classroom learning. In reality, schools rarely reach this target due to class suspensions caused by typhoons and extreme heat. What remains of the school year, however, is further weighed down by 150 legislated events and competitions, such as Nutrition Month, World AIDS Day, Palarong Pambansa, and Philippine Environment Month. As the final report of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom 2) notes, these activities are well-intentioned. But the lengthy preparations they require, along with teachers assigned to manage them, often lead to further disruptions.
The issue raised by Edcom 2 is not whether cocurricular experiences are important. They are unquestionably an integral part of a child’s education and holistic development. However, the way that some of these activities are being carried out may only benefit select students, while the majority bear the cost through lost instructional time. What was meant to enrich learning has, over time, begun to displace it.
Some public school teachers speak of being regularly pulled away from class to train or accompany chosen students for both academic and sports competitions. During their absence, they typically assign self-paced work to the remaining students, even if they know it is ineffective for learners who are struggling with comprehension and/or motivation.
These responsibilities also come with additional administrative work.
Teachers are expected to prepare comprehensive activity completion reports that further consume time that could have been devoted to more important tasks like lesson plan preparation or student remediation. Too often, these reports tend to focus on documenting the school’s compliance with celebrations rather than measuring quantitatively whether the activities actually reinforced target learning competencies.
Recognizing this, Edcom 2 called for a system-wide review of school celebrations and observances and proposed a clearer framework for determining which activities should be merged, scaled down, or restructured. The commission suggests that they should be evaluated based on: their relevance to curriculum standards, evidence of impact, equity of participation, and opportunity cost in learning time.
Among these criteria, equity of participation and opportunity cost deserve particular emphasis. Cocurricular activities should lead to measurable educational outcomes for ALL students, rather than just a few participants. A practical starting point is for school leaders to guide their teams to adopt the lens of instructional continuity. This involves questioning whether the values or themes of an activity can be taught by integrating them meaningfully into existing lessons, rather than through standalone celebrations that disrupt classroom instruction.
When an activity requires multiple rehearsals or leads to the prolonged absence of teachers from class, it should be held to a higher standard of justification. School leaders must ask: 1. What lasting learning will students gain beyond the event itself? 2. What learning opportunities will be lost as a result? 3. Given these trade-offs, is the disruption truly justified? Protecting instructional continuity ensures that cocurricular activities truly enrich learning rather than compete with it.
Some critics worry that highlighting the issue regarding school events will divert attention and discussion away from more pressing challenges, such as overcrowded classrooms, high teacher-student ratios, and mass promotion in schools. However, Edcom 2’s valuable contribution lies precisely in showing how these systemic inefficiencies interact and compound one another, and why they cannot be magically resolved through fragmented solutions. Addressing them requires an overhaul of entrenched mindsets and institutionalized practices that no longer serve the needs of Filipino learners.
The question now is how policymakers will utilize Edcom 2’s findings and 10-year roadmap for evidence-based action. The P1.015-trillion education budget allocated for the DepEd for 2026 is a commendable and hopeful start. The 30-percent increase has been allocated to fund key reforms such as an expanded school feeding support, intensification of the Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning literacy program, and closing the classroom and personnel shortage. Success, however, not only depends on funding, but on rigorous governance to ensure those allocations translate into tangible and measurable student gains. And as the issue with the legislated school events shows, solutions to the education crisis are not just about what DepEd should add or introduce, but a careful reassessment of what needs to be discontinued.
As Edcom 2 stressed, the education crisis is “deep and longstanding, but it is neither inevitable nor irreversible.” May this be the starting point of sustained child-centered reforms that transcend short-term politics and endure beyond fleeting agendas.
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eleanor@shetalksasia.com
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