Caroling or crumbling?: On education struggles before the holiday cheers

While time may appear to fly by quickly, students in higher and secondary education face a different landscape. 

The much-anticipated Christmas break, the longest break in the school calendar, usually begins around the second week of December. 

Yet, before these learners can enjoy, relax, and breathe, they must first overcome a slew of challenges, changing their holiday countdowns into a grueling marathon against time. 

The countdown to Christmas in the Philippines often begins in early September. But before smiles can be painted on students’ faces, there are tons of tests, projects, quizzes, presentations, and even research defenses for some to be dealt with. 

Sometimes, a small percentage of students spend their holidays alone in their dormitories, unable to travel back home due to different circumstances, such as high travel fares and pending requirements. Not only is the warmth of a family’s embrace absent, but the feeling of isolation often arises, leading to deteriorated mental health for some. December is also an end-of-term marker, signifying the start of a new enrollment. For some schools, tuition may reach up to P100,000 for one term, which is quite a burden for most families who send their children to private institutions for a competitive education.

Unfortunately, the circumstance chooses no one. Ingrid Valencia, a pre-medical student from the University of Santo Tomas shared her sentiment. 

“The economy and education sector are both degrading, it's more apparent this season especially because of how much things that piled up [...] From the suspensions and the unforeseen events, we still feel the aftershocks now because the schoolwork accumulated this much and the schedules became really messy, madaming nagsabay-sabay because we're unprepared for it,” Valencia shared during the interview. 

The aggravated stress caused by the rush of academic requirements, necessity to prepare for the holiday festivities, and to pay tuition for the incoming term on January, is more than enough to drain the souls and smiles from faces of students and parents alike. Truly, the harsh conditions coming from the academe can make or break the Christmas season. It chooses no one, regardless of background. But, undeniably, some have it worse than others, making it necessary to question the entirety of the Philippines’ economic and education landscape.

High school students are overworked, and even more so for college students. The excessive workload is higher compared to other countries, and yet, the Philippines still ranks on the lower bracket of the PISA rankings, pointing that there is a problem with the education system. And, the unfortunate reality stands — the overwork goes both ways. Many teachers in the country are overworked and still remains underpaid despite the efforts exerted, wherein over 400 hours are left unpaid.

“I feel like this year especially, Christmas doesn't feel like Christmas — a common sentiment between my classmates too. We aren't really looking forward to celebrating the holiday itself, just the fact that there won’t be classes because we're all drained and somewhat burned out from all of that. December was a really tough month on all of us. It's especially worse talaga for dormers without the support of their families,” Valencia stated.

Students who end up missing out on celebrations, hangouts, and pretty much an eventful social life could never be blamed when the system drains them so much. It is a domino effect of sorts, leading to one problem after another. Perhaps, every falling domino represents a piece of every Filipino falling into the hands of a cruel and unrewarding system.

The great load can even become unreasonable that even the phrase “Suck it up” will never be enough to justify it. Consistent all-nighters for students to prep for exams, breakdowns and blood, sweat, and tears, and additional overtime work for parents to pay heightened tuition fees become unbearable, but the realization to become resilient and to pull through for the future that is at stake sometimes blurs the line between being human and the inhumane.

The realm of basic education also falls victim to this so-called ‘Christmas crunch.’ With the school calendar shift implemented by the Department of Education (DepEd) along with the continuous suspension of classes due to the consecutive series of typhoon onslaughts, students and teachers alike have struggled to catch up on learning competencies before the holiday break, while ensuring quality education.

All 17 regions — especially the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), CALABARZON, Bicol Region, Ilocos Region, and Central Luzon have suffered up to over a month of class suspensions, leading to severe learning losses. One of those who suffered from it is Kristian Tom Espejon, 18 — a grade 12 student, who stated that it could be detrimental on passing college entrance tests because of the lessons left untaught due to being pressed for time.

"Parang patong-patong na [‘yong lessons] eh. Every other day may deadline na kailangan habulin tapos hindi na rin talaga mabeblame if medyo mabilis ang turo kasi lahat kaming students and teachers naghahabol, [may] it be requirements or grades," Espejon said.

This was further lamented by Bohol Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor, chairperson of the House Committee on Civil Service and Professional Regulation in an interview with the Daily Tribune. 

“We must have a climate-adaptive school calendar and school buildings. Let us avoid having classes during the monsoon, typhoons, and hot months as much as we possibly can,” she mentioned. 

To compensate for the said learning losses, DepEd will be rolling out Republic Act 12028 or Academic Recovery and Accessible Learning (ARAL) Program Act which was signed last November. The ARAL Program aims to provide “targeted learning interventions” for Filipino learners, especially those struggling to meet grade-level competencies.

With all the rush, one may expect a sweet reward at the end, but the DepEd 2024 school calendar states that the Christmas break is a measly 12 days — much to the dismay of teachers and learners who have less than two weeks to rest and enjoy time with loved ones before going back to school.

“The year ends late and it will begin early, parang wala talagang oras para magpahinga na kahit saglit, kasi sasabak agad kami sa labanan,” Espejon lamented.

Instead of dreaming of opening presents at Christmas or feeling the warm embrace of those special to them, people in the world of education are plagued with stress over deadlines, untaught lessons, and academic requirements; only to be compensated by a bland hurrah.

The times of youth are often considered golden days, and students should be able to spend their prime enjoying the best of what life has to offer, not stressing over deadlines and grades. Though time may seem to slow down to a crawl during the first few days of December, the passion to change this holiday crunch burns within.

Sometime in the future, may there be a day when Filipino students and educators wake up free from this phenomenon of despair ahead of the holidays — this nightmare before Christmas.