The Wisdom behind Deped's Short School Hours

And why is Grade 1 reduced to only half a day? In many countries with K to 12, Grade 1 is a full day.
“Unlike in other countries, many of our Grade 1 students spend hours walking to and from school,” Luistro says. “They are tired when they reach school. I want them to enjoy school, not (to feel) that (it) is imposed on them.”

From: Straight talk on K to 12 By  
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/163605/straight-talk-on-k-to-12

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First, In the US, if a student lives beyond one mile from the public school assigned, transportation by school bus is provided, otherwise, students here walk. Second, if this is the reason why school hours are shorter then it illustrates how badly policies are drawn by DepEd. There are much better solutions:

(a) provide transportation
(b) build school extensions
(c) copy what the Bernidos do (instead of reducing every school day, meet less frequently during the week). I think this is a more intelligent choice – one makes the efforts of the students in getting to school more worthwhile and with Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday as full days, and Wednesday as a holiday - students need to walk only 4 times a week….

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And the specific examples for (a) and (b) are:

In Paete, there are sitios situated in the mountains. Children from these villages spend a long time going
down and climbing up the mountain to reach the elementary schools in the poblacion. The people of Paete decided to build a school inside the sitio. This way, only the teachers need to make the daily travel to and from the school.

Elementary school in Sitio Papatahan, Paete, Laguna, http://paete.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11037
In Layag-Layag, children used to swim their way to and from the school. But now, boats have been donated
to help these children reach their destination quicker and without getting wet.
School Boat, Figure taken from https://www.facebook.com/philippine.funds

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A study shows that longer class period gives more “Time for a rigorous and well-rounded education that prepares students for success in college and careers.”

Time Well Spent: Figure taken from http://www.timeandlearning.org/?q=node/102

And in "The Power of More Time to Deepen Inquiry and Engagement" by Kathleen Traphagen,
released in November 2011, Strengthening Science Education: The Power of More Time to Deepen Inquiry and Engagement, the importance of school hours was likewise underscored. 
Figure taken from Strengthening Science Education: http://www.timeandlearning.org/?q=node/125


"....Another aspect of the K to 12 plan that has been promoted without scrutiny is the length of instructional hours. This is intimately related to multiple shifts in schools. This area, as experts have warned, is likewise characterized by scarce good data. There are large amounts of data that contain information regarding the length of instruction and learning outcomes, but these data involve so many additional factors. Nonetheless. amidst these complicated cases, one thing is clear: "....the amount of time spent engaged in learning tasks is related to student performance....”(Abadzi, " Instructional Time Loss in Developing Countries: Concepts,
Measurement, and Implications” World Bank Res Obs (2009) 24 (2): 267-290, http://wbro.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/2/267.full.pdf)...."




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Special feature: 'Emergency classes do not bring quality'
By Marigold P. Lebumfacil (The Freeman) Updated June 21, 2012 12:00 AM 



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Some students at the Guadalupe Elementary School have to wake up early for their 5 a.m. classes.  The early morning sessions are part of the emergency classes that the school is implementing because of its huge student population.  REYNAN VILLENA
CEBU, Philippines - Most graders wake up at 6 a.m. during weekdays to prepare for school.

But 9-year-old Christie Jane Bacalso needs to be up at 3 a.m. to be in school early for her 5:40 a.m. class at the Guadalupe Elementary School.

“I’m already used to waking up early at 3 a.m. everyday. I don’t want to be late. I see to it that I will always be the first to arrive in the classroom,” Christie said in Cebuano.

Christie is among the 920 grade three pupils taking emergency classes, the school’s way to accommodate all students despite the shortage of classrooms and teachers.

Guadalupe Elementary School is one of the biggest schools in Cebu City in terms of the population.

The school decided to hold emergency classes for grades three, four and five classes because the grade one enrollees drastically increased this year.

To read more...
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=819406&publicationSubCategoryId=107

Comments

  1. It should be noted that there are still sections of the US that deal with the same issue. There is a high school in a
    sparsely-populated, rural section of Nebraska. This high-school was for the entire county (Wheeler County), and yet there were only 10 students in its graduating class. The students at the high-school were divided into two groups -- those who lived in-town, and those from the countryside. The countryside students boarded in town. There was a dormitory for them by the school district. This is another solution to long-commutes by students.

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