The Department of Education has scheduled the start of classes for the school year 2024-2025 on July 29 and an early end to the current school year as part of its gradual return to the former academic calendar.

DepEd Order No. 003 s. 2024, dated February 19, establishes the beginning and conclusion of classes for SY 2024-2025 on July 29, 2024 and May 16, 2025.

The DepEd order also pushes back the conclusion of the current school year (SY 2023-2024) by two weeks, to May 31 rather than June 14.

In addition, the DepEd order moved the date of this year’s school vacation from June 1 to July 26. Only schools with exceptional circumstances will be able to host end-of-school ceremonies on June 1 after consulting with teachers and students. The ceremonies will take place from May 29 to May 31.

“Magiging gradual ‘yung shift ng ating school calendar back to the usual April-May break. Mag-end tayo ng May 31, pero magstart pa rin tayo around July 29. And then slowly, i-move natin siya back until bumalik tayo sa normal na April-May break,” DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa said.

According to USec Poa, the decision to revert to the old academic calendar was made after DepEd consultations with parents, teachers, and other groups. During these consultations, they expressed a preference for a June start date for schools to avoid having sessions during the dry season, which runs from April to May.

“The people made this decision,” USec Poa continued.

The department issued this decision after previously confirming that the switch back to the previous June–March academic calendar would be “gradual,” or carried out in stages, in order to minimize interruptions to students’ and educators’ vacation time.

According to Undersecretary Poa, based on DepEd’s predicted timeframe, schools would open in June and close in April by the school year 2026–2027. By the 2027–2028 academic year, classes would begin in June and end in March.

The Education Department has long refused to align its calendar with the new higher education academic calendar, which the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) suggested public universities employ in 2019 to coincide with the government’s fiscal year.

In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippines rescheduled its June school opening to October, and remote learning was instituted. It was shifted to August in the years that followed.

Public outcry over April and May being unsuitable for study during the summer months led to the return to the previous academic calendar.