Starting Jan. 12, 2024, the Department of Education (DepEd) will designate every Friday as a “catch-up” day in schools, particularly to help students read and comprehend better, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte announced on Tuesday.
Duterte said during the catch-up days, all learners from kindergarten to Grade 12 shall use the time to read books, articles, and other reading materials based on their interests, and be tasked to write books, essays, and book reviews and analyses.
She said that the scheme would be conducted until the end of the Marcos administration in 2028.
She also said the policies on the catch-up Fridays are currently being drafted and will be released in December in time for the school-based launch in January next year.
“We need a day where we have to catch up on where we want the children to be. We should stop repeatedly doing measures that do not result in changes or improvements in our learners,” Duterte said.
Citing international studies, Duterte noted that the quality of education in the country “is not good.” Thus as part of the learning recovery program, she said learners need to be taught first how to read well.
“We will do nothing else but teach the child to read and those who can read will be taught about critical thinking and analysis. Those who already know critical thinking and analysis will be tasked to write a
book and essays. Everything we need to do so that kids can learn, we do on catch-up Fridays,” she said.
Aside from reading, Duterte said Fridays will also be set to catch up on the values, health, and peace education of the learners.