DepEd Sec. Luistro yesterday officially announced that the Dept. of Education (DepEd) has made a decision to retain the opening of elementary and high school classes in June this year amid proposals to move it to later months. In a press briefing Sec. Luistro who has repeatedly been asked about the stand of the Dept. of Education on proposals to move the school opening to July, August or September said that while a study is now being conducted by an inter-agency panel led by the Commission of Higher Education (CHED). Luistro said talks on moving the academic calendar for basic education will resume after the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have arrived at a consensus. To date, only 3 higher education institutions (HEIs) the University of the Philippines (UP) system except Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) and the University of the Santo Tomas (UST) have announced shifts in their respective academic calendars. The UP system except Diliman will implement an August-May academic calendar starting this year while ADMU will implement an August-May academic calendar starting in 2015. The UST will start it's school year in July this year. Meanwhile a group of public school teachers expressed opposition to the change in school calendar.
