Palace rejects call for “academic break”

November 17, 2020

Malacanang said on Tuesday there will be no "academic break" to be implemented amid the coronavirus pandemic and the recent destructive typhoons that hit the country.

In a televised press briefing in Cagayan, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said as far as the public schools under the Department of Education are concerned, the government has been using "blended learning" with modular as the primary mode of instruction.

"So, it's not much affected (by COVID-19) because no face to face classes in all our schools," he said.

In the case of colleges and universities, Roque cited the decision of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) that academic break would not be allowed.

"CHED's decision is to reject the academic break as being asked by a few. Instead the decision of the CHED en banc is to extend classes for one or two weeks in the universities and colleges because they failed to hold classes due to typhoons," he said.

A party-list representative has urged the DepEd and CHED to declare a nationwide academic break amid the pandemic and the weather disturbances that recently struck the country. Celerina Monte/DMS