Half-day classes scrutinized as City Council seeks fixes

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

Half-day schooling has quietly become the norm in several Iloilo City public schools, prompting the City Council to investigate structural and academic challenges and push for immediate interventions to prevent long-term learning loss.

The City Council on Wednesday, Jan. 28, passed three resolutions aimed at restoring safe learning environments and addressing delays and gaps in post-earthquake assessments and recovery efforts.

Councilor Sedfrey Cabaluna proposed the measures following his “Tunga sa Adlaw,” or Half a Day, privilege speech.

Cabaluna expressed alarm over the normalization of half-day or double-shift classes in public schools, warning that reduced learning time risks turning education into a source of inequality rather than opportunity.

He traced the issue to the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck offshore northern Cebu on Sept. 30, 2025, with tremors felt in Iloilo City.

“Beyond the immediate shock, the earthquake exposed deep structural vulnerabilities in our public-school buildings—vulnerabilities that continue to force our students into shortened school days and compromised learning environments,” he said.

At Iloilo National High School, the temporary closure of the PAGCOR 1 building displaced more than 800 students, triggering double-shift schedules and shortened days.

Similar conditions persist at Iloilo City National High School in Molo, where an unusable junior high school building has disrupted learning for thousands of students.

Cabaluna cited data from the Department of Education Schools Division Office of Iloilo City showing that 14 schools were flagged for post-earthquake structural concerns, but only four have undergone formal assessments.

“Truth is, half-day schooling is not just a minor inconvenience. It means rushed lessons, compressed assessments, heavier take-home workloads, and learning gaps that may persist for years. Our public schools were already operating beyond capacity even before the earthquake. We were already facing a classroom shortage,” he added.

The first resolution calls for a joint investigation by the City Council Committees on Education and Engineering to examine structural damage and learning challenges, especially the implementation of double-shift classes.

The investigation aims to recommend actionable solutions to expedite school repairs and address educational setbacks.

The second resolution urges the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Office of the Building Official, the Department of Education, and other agencies to immediately complete structural assessments of all affected public schools.

It also directs agencies to prioritize the repair and rehabilitation of unsafe or temporarily unusable buildings and to provide regular progress reports to ensure transparency and accountability.

In a third resolution, the City Council urged the Department of Education to implement recovery measures that address learning gaps caused by shortened class schedules.

These include the Accelerated Learning Program for Numeracy and Literacy, remedial and enrichment classes, targeted reading interventions, and teacher training.

“Half-day schooling should be a temporary response to the crisis, not the lasting measure of our commitment to education,” Cabaluna emphasized.