VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio yesterday said school uniforms will no longer be a requirement when schoolyear 2022-2023 opens next month.
Duterte-Carpio said she understood the difficulties being faced by parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic and requiring them to shell out money to buy school uniforms will only compound the problem.
“Even before the pandemic, it is not a strict requirement for public schools to wear uniforms to avoid incurring additional costs to the families of our learners,” Duterte-Carpio said in response to media queries.
“All the more that it will not be required this school year given the increasing prices and economic losses due to the pandemic,” she added.
The DepEd said schoolyear 2022-2023 for public elementary and secondary schools will open on August 22 and end on July 7, 2023, or a total of 203 school days.
Full face-to-face classes are set to start in November.
The DepEd stopped in-person classes in early 2020 due to the pandemic, with schools shifting to blended learning, which features the use of modules and online or virtual learning to deliver education to students.
