To curb learning loss, EDCOM 2 advocates site-specific class suspension guidelines

The Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) recommended shifting to localized class suspensions after public schools nationwide surrendered an average of 15 teaching days to natural hazards and calamities between 2024 and 2026.

Regional figures released by the education advisory body showed that the Negros Island Region suffered the severe brunt of disaster-related disruptions, losing an average of 26 school days per division over the two-year span.

Central Visayas recorded the second-highest learning losses with 22.2 missing class days, closely followed by the Ilocos Region at 22.1 days and the Bicol Region at 21.8 days.

The commission clarified that these figures from the Department of Education Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DepEd-DRRMS) strictly account for weather-related disasters and exclude local holidays or non-teaching activities.

In a September 2026 policy report, EDCOM 2 noted that hazard-induced cancellations—often driven by extreme weather and overly cautious provincewide orders—consumed 43 percent of total school days in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces between August and mid-September 2026 alone.

Research conducted by the commission revealed that every suspended school day triggers a 1.4-day decline in reading progress, dealing the heaviest blow to early-grade learners who lack self-directed study skills.

“When classes are disrupted, learners in the early grades bear a disproportionate share of the learning loss, as they have not yet developed the independent learning skills that learning continuity at home requires,” EDCOM 2 said.

“Surrendering close to a month each year to hazards—even when warranted by circumstances—is already a large setback for a system still working hard to ensure that every learner can read by Grade 3,” it added.

To mitigate the nationwide learning crisis, the commission called for an immediate update to Executive Order No. 66, series of 2012, which currently mandates automatic, blanket class cancellations based on tropical cyclone wind signals.

The proposed policy revision seeks to grant local school administrators direct authority to cancel or resume classes based on real-time, site-specific hazard data.

“What granularity in suspension orders achieves is confining that setback to the schools that had to bear it,” the commission said.