By law, students are required to spend at least 200 days in school
every academic year which runs for 10 months. Over the last three
school years, however, that minimum number had not been met, partly
because administrators had to adjust to changes in the academic
calendar since the pandemic happened.
The actual number of days in school would also be lower, in reality.
That's because while the required school days take into account
national holidays, local officials are given a wide latitude to
suspend classes, including on local holidays and when a disaster
strikes.
School days are at their record-low levels
Number of school days from pre-school to senior high school
The Data Dictionary did some math. From Jan. 1 to Oct. 3, 2025,
disasters forced the announcement of over 2,100 face-to-face class
suspensions. This number, which was a low estimate given how
fragmented class suspensions were declared nationwide, disrupted 69
school days: 28 days in the school year 2024-2025 and 41 days for the
school year 2025-2026.
The data means that for the current school year that started last
June, nearly 21% of the required
school days
were already lost to disasters. The number was also definitely higher
because of suspensions not covered by our data in the latter months,
some due to an
earthquake in Davao
and a
typhoon in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Education groups voiced concerns over the scale of class suspensions
last year. “There should be clear, science-based national guidelines
that balance safety and learning continuity,” said Ruby Bernardo,
chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Philippines, a
teachers advocacy group represented as a partylist in Congress.
The Education department said: "When face-to-face classes are
suspended due to weather disturbances or emergencies, schools do not
automatically lose learning time. The standing guidance is to shift to
alternative delivery modes appropriate to local conditions and/or
assign performance tasks and projects to learners, then use make-up
classes if needed…," the agency said.
Class cancellations from disasters have become more frequent
Estimated number of face-to-face class suspensions announced due to
disasters, per day
10 school days of no
face-to-face classes due to extreme heat.
13 school days suspended due to
typhoon “Emong”and southwest monsoon
7 days of class suspensions
10 school days of no
face-to-face classes due to extreme heat.
13 school days suspended due to
typhoon “Emong”and southwest monsoon
Note: According to the current academic calendar, students have a
summer vacation from mid-April to mid-June. Data on class
suspensions cover municipal, provincial and national suspensions.
Data should be considered as low estimates based on announcements by
local government units based on research by the Data Dictionary.
Since mayors and governors could suspend classes at will, the majority
of suspensions overlapped or overruled each other. On March 3, for
instance, Bacoor in Cavite only suspended classes in public schools
due to extreme heat, but the provincial government later included
private schools in the cancellation. The same thing happened in some
municipalities in Pangasinan on Sept. 22 and Nueva Ecija on July 18.
Tracking class suspensions can be difficult because of their
granularity. One city can suspend classes to senior high school, while
another can do so for all levels even if they are located in the same
province. Consider what happened in Metro Manila on July 21.
At the height of typhoon “Emong”, the majority of mayors in Metro
Manila's 16 cities and a municipality suspended face-to-face classes
for all levels, but Quezon City, Pasig and Mandaluyong opted only to
cancel classes to senior high school. The Marcos administration later
on cancelled classes for all levels in the Metro that superseded all
local declarations.
Suspension of classes diverge across Metro Manila during calamities
Mayors are given high prerogative when it comes to suspending
classes during disasters.
Quezon City and Pasig often did not suspend college classes
even while the rest of the Metro did.
National government suspended classes for whole of Metro
Manila on July 21, overriding
local suspensions.
National government suspended classes for whole of Metro
Manila on July 21, overriding
local suspensions.
Note: Flood risk data is based on a five-year average from Project
NOAH.
At the provincial level, each class suspension affected anywhere from
thousands to millions of students. After July 25 when over 14 million
students did not go to school, Sept. 22 saw one of the broadest
suspensions last year, affecting 8.6 million students in 26 provinces.
July and September recorded the most number of class suspensions.
Expectedly, provinces in Central Luzon, the Cordillera Administrative
Region and Bicol, which are typically on typhoon paths, declared more
suspensions than others. On the flip side, provinces in Cagayan Valley
Region topped the list for most suspensions due to extreme heat.
Estimated number of provincial class suspensions and affected
students
Number of face-to-face class suspensions
Estimated number of students affected
Face-to-face
class suspensions
Note: Data should be considered as low estimates. The number of
affected number of students does not include college and graduate
levels, which are covered by suspensions announced for all levels.
For Michael Abrigo, a senior fellow at the government-run Philippine
Institute for Development Studies and who studied school closures, one
cannot easily fault local governments for making varying decisions
when it comes to class suspensions during disasters.
Oftentimes, he said, classes are cancelled not because of a typhoon
per se, but its impact such as heavy flooding or classrooms used as
evacuation shelters. These occurrences may not be true in all areas.
"The thing with weather is that it is very localized," he said.
"It could be all sunny or gloomy on one side of the hill, but the
other is getting drenched all over," Abrigo said. "I'd say they're not
wanting in caution (for suspending classes)."
Typhoon, monsoon rains disrupt schooling the most
Estimated number of days when a class suspension was announced up to
college level, by type of disaster
Number of suspensions up to college level
Estimated ave. number of students affected
6.9-magnitude earthquake near Cebu
Number of suspensions
up to college level
6.9-magnitude
earthquake near Cebu
Estimated ave. number
of students affected
Note: Data should be considered as low estimates. The number of
affected number of students does not include college and graduate
levels, which are covered by suspensions announced for all levels.
That, however, does not mean local officials can be trigger happy in
calling classes off, especially because a day without school can have
severe repercussions to learning. Abrigo was among the authors of a
2024 study
that found that a day of school closure due to evacuations during
disasters depressed test scores by 12-14%.
The good news is the impact on scores can be mitigated. The working
paper, published by Asian Development Bank Institute, underscored the
importance of “interventions” such as remote learning to help students
cope with missing in-person instruction. The problem is
studies
have also found that many rural areas lacked computers and a stable
internet connection to even facilitate online classes. Our analysis
counted a shift to online instruction as a class suspension given
these limitations to learning.
Malacanang's class suspensions affect more students
Estimated share of pre-school to senior high school students under a
class suspension by Malacanang, per day
50% of pre-school to senior high school students
50% of pre-school to senior
high school students
Over the long term, the paper warned that class suspensions may have
an adverse effect on student motivation to study. On the ground,
Rosemay Cabacang, 36, and mother to a grade 6 student in Rizal, said
exhaustion is a factor, especially because when classes are suspended
for longer periods, schools later make up for those by holding classes
on Saturdays. At one point, Cabacang said her 11-year-old son went to
school for four consecutive Saturdays.
"We would usually go out on Sunday as a family," Cabacang said in
Filipino. "But because he has make-up classes on Saturday, he's not
able to join us anymore because he would want to rest."
Teachers suffer, too. Bernardo said teachers get burdened by work
catching up on lessons on top of other administrative tasks. "[We] are
not in favor of blanket Saturday classes as a default solution…They
are usually unpaid, poorly planned, and pedagogically rushed…," she
explained.
Already, policymakers are scrambling to address an "
education crisis." Several education metrics have shown Filipino students lagging
behind their peers in Southeast Asia even with trillions of pesos
funneled to the education budget every year, the most for any sector
as required by the Constitution.
Filipino students lag behind Southeast Asian peers in reading, math
Share of Grade 5 students with high proficiency in reading and
mathematics in 2024
The frequent class suspensions are not helping. "Schools are also not
just about learning your curricular subjects. It is also about
learning about one's self and a bigger community," Abrigo said.
Methodology
The Data Dictionary collated class suspension announcements
primarily from the
#WalangPasok
Twitter and Telegram accounts as well as mainstream media reports
that use such hashtags. Only class suspensions due to disasters
from Jan. 1 to Oct. 3 were collated. The Data Dictionary relied on
reasons provided by local authorities in categorizing each class
suspension. Notably, our data covers suspension due to rain caused
by typhoons or seasonal monsoon, earthquakes, tsunami alerts and
extreme heat, among others.
Only suspensions announced by municipal, city, provincial and
national governments were included. Specific school suspensions
were not part of the analysis. The student population data came
from the Department of Education enrollment data for the covered
school years.
Given the limitations of gathering the information, the data
collated should be considered as low estimates. There were
expectedly more class suspensions that happened last year. Class
suspensions announced after Oct. 3 were also not included.
The raw dataset can be found
here.
Sources
Data Dictionary research, #WalangPasok social media accounts,
Department of Education, Project NOAH, Southeast Asia Primary
Learning Metrics
Updated (Jan. 6): Added comments from the Education
department.
Copyright 2026 - The
Data Dictionary
Project
