The Department of Education has cancelled the annual semestral break in the elementary and secondary levels for this year to compensate for the lost school days caused by typhoons and other calamities.

“Wala nang sembreak; may pasok ang mga estudyante para mapunan ang oras na nawala dahil sa pagkansela ng klase bunga ng bagyo,” DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus said Tuesday.

The annual one-week semestral break, usually held during the last week of this month, was originally scheduled from October 26 to 30 this year.

Since the beginning of the current school year last June, the DepEd has suspended classes for at least 13 school days due to weather-related problems, not counting other holidays and the A-H1N1-related suspensions.

Under education department regulations, schools are required to hold 204 class days per school year.

This school year, classes began last June 1, 2009 and should end on March 31, 2010.

“Holding makeup classes is necessary in order to attain the required 204 class days in a school year. Remedial classes are usually held on Saturdays and semester breaks,” Lapus said.

Some elementary schools have already started conducting Saturday make-up classes.

“Double shifting must be employed and covered courts should also be used when necessary to augment class contact. Modularized instruction  for home study may also be utilized to make up for the loss class hours,” Lapus added.

Lapus has already instructed DepEd National Capital Region Director Teresita Domalanta and other regional directors to come up with guidelines for the holding of makeup classes.

Due to the presence of evacuees from storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng”, some schools in the National Capital Region and other areas in Northern Luzon have also not yet opened for classes, adding to the already significant number of school days lost.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) also announced that holding of make-up classes in the tertiary level will depend on school heads.

According to CHEd chair Emmanuel Angeles, higher education institutions may decide what measures to adopt in implementing make-up classes to catch up with the one-week suspension due to the two typhoons that wreaked havoc across Luzon.

“It would be up to the school’s discretion what measures it will adopt to make up for the lost school days, as long as the measures taken are acceptable to CHEd standards and pertinent laws,” he said.

On the other hand, CHEd is also open to suggestions of changing the start of the school year to either August or September in view of the frequent weather disturbances in the months of June and July.

“We are ready to support any initiative to move the start of the school year to either the months of August or September, but of course we have to benchmark with our Asian neighbors like Singapore and Malaysia which start classes in August and January, respectively,” Angeles added.

The DepEd, meanwhile, also reported that it sustained more than half a billion pesos worth of damage from Ondoy and Pepeng.

The DepEd’s Disaster Risk Management Office-Rapid Disaster Assessment Report (RADAR) estimated a total of P565,403,902.60 worth of damage in seven regions.