Trimester System sa Schools? Senate Grills DepEd on Controversial Calendar Overhaul
The Senate committee on basic education put the Department of Education in the hot seat on Tuesday, March 3, holding a hearing on DepEd's controversial proposal to switch from a quarterly to a trimester school calendar — and probing the alarming state of literacy among Filipino students.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara has pitched the trimester system as a 'holistic approach' that would give students longer and more continuous learning time. Under the proposal, the school year would be divided into three terms instead of the current four quarters, potentially allowing for deeper dives into subjects before moving on.
But the idea has split public opinion. Critics argue that changing the school calendar is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic when the real crisis — plummeting literacy rates — demands more fundamental reforms. Supporters counter that the current quarterly system fragments learning and doesn't give students enough time to absorb material before assessments.
The hearing also tackled disturbing findings from the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2), which revealed that student proficiency has been steadily declining even as learners advance through grade levels — a phenomenon driven in part by mass promotion policies that push students forward regardless of mastery.
Whether the trimester system gains traction in the Senate or gets shelved as another experiment in a long line of education reforms remains an open question. But one thing is clear: the Filipino education system is in crisis mode, and lawmakers are running out of patience for incremental fixes.
Source: Rappler
