• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Teachers and other Department of Education personnel are prohibited from collecting “any kind of contribution or fee for the graduation or moving-up ceremony”, with the end-of-school-year (EOSY) rites for SY 2023-2024 set any day from May 29 to 31.
In Division Memorandum 375 dated May 6, DepEd Negros Occidental Schools Division superintendent Anthony Liobet reiterated a memorandum from the DepEd national office which stressed that “expenses relative to the activity shall be charged to the school’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses. No DepEd personnel shall be allowed to collect any kind of contribution or fee.”
The EOSY ceremony covers kindergarten, grade 6, grade 10, and grade 12, and Alternative Learning System (ALS) learners.
“Graduation and moving-up ceremonies shall be simple but meaningful. While these rites mark a milestone in the lives of the learners, the EOSY ceremonies shall be conducted without excessive spending, extravagant attire, or extraordinary venues,” the memorandum said.
It added that non-academic projects or off-campus activities, such as attendance at field trips, film showings, the junior-senior prom, and other school events, shall not be imposed as graduation or completion requirements.
To ensure the safety and protection of learners, teachers, and attendees, schools are advised to hold their EOSY rites in indoor venues with proper ventilation, or covered courts, to avoid exposure to the extreme heat of the sun. “Schools shall avoid scheduling their EOSY rites during the time of the day when temperatures are at their highest.”
Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte, meanwhile, signed DepEd Order 05, series of 2024, to rationalize public school teachers’ workload and define ancillary tasks and assignments that can be given to them.
“A public school teacher shall render eight hours of work per day, of which six hours shall be devoted to actual classroom teaching and two hours allocated for teacher ancillary tasks, which may be spent within or outside school premises,” Duterte ordered.
No teacher shall be required to submit documentary evidence or accomplishment reports on how the two hours of ancillary tasks are spent outside school premises.
In a week, a teacher must be able to render 30 hours of actual classroom teaching and 10 hours of teacher ancillary tasks, or work incidental to a teacher’s normal teaching duties.
Teacher ancillary tasks and teaching-related assignments performed by teachers beyond regular work hours shall be compensated through the grant of VSC, or vacation service credits.
These ancillary tasks include curriculum planning, preparation of lesson plans/daily lesson logs as well as instructional aids and materials; checking and recording of learners’ attendance and participation, checking of exercises and summative tests, recording of academic performance results, and grading learners’ performance or achievement; and homeroom guidance and management, like class advising duties, preparation and submission of report card and other school forms, and conference with parents and home visits when necessary, among others.
The latest order is a further step to ensure that teachers can devote more to classroom teaching, and as a follow-up to an earlier memorandum of Duterte removing administrative tasks from teachers. | CGC
