MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) on Sunday, May 10, released the guidelines for the conduct of summer classes. Classes officially start Monday, May 11, and schools are encouraged to use distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the DepEd memo dated May 7, “the conduct of remedial, enrichment, and advancement classes shall start on May 11, 2020 and shall end after the completion of the 6-week period that may include Saturdays.”

“The remedial lessons can be made in the form of tutorial, mentoring, coaching, or other ways of delivering the organized learning experience, whichever is applicable in the context of the learner,” the memo read.

Grade school to senior high school students (SHS) who received a grade lower than 75 in any subject are required to take remedial classes to be promoted to the next grade level. 

The memo, however, said that learners with failing grades in any subject may instead be required to attend make-up classes during school year 2020-2021. 

“Schools that opt to conduct such make-up classes in place of remedial classes during the summer term shall be required to prepare and submit an implementation plan before the start of the school year,” it added. 

Schools may offer 6-week voluntary enrichment classes for students from Grade 1 to SHS who “had a hard time focusing on their lessons in the previous SY; needed more time to understand concepts; and received low grades.” 

Advancement classes may also be offered to SHS students who “would like to pursue their immersion prior to the start for SY 2020-2021 or would like to take advance subjects prior to SY 2020-2021 so that more attention or focus shall be given to their immersion work in the succeeding semester.” 

According to the memo, schools are allowed to shorten the period of remedial and advancement classes as long as the student has attained the required learning competencies while enrichment class may be extended until the start of the next school year. 

In delivering distance learning, the memo noted that schools must consider the student’s access to the internet before using an online learning approach.  

The memo said that schools division superintendents, supervisors, and school heads were expected to “exercise prudence in making decisions on learner remediation particularly during this period of health crisis.”

The full DepEd memo can be accessed below.

DepEd announced last week that school year 2020-2021 will open on August 24, adding that classes may be conducted physically or virtually depending on the state of the coronavirus pandemic by then. – Rappler.com