Article by: Gilbert Comprado
Layout and Cartoon by:
Bonifacio Faunillan and Edmar James Pariolan
© Collegiate Marian Voice

For the second semester of the school year 2021-2022, SMCTI decided to mark Friday as a free day for both the Senior High School and Higher Education departments, cutting the span of school days to only four days per week.

By making the school week a day shorter, what benefits will it provide to the Marians? Is this free day also for free or does it have a disadvantageous cost?

The change is to be implemented while the students are currently under distance learning, which means no synchronous or asynchronous online classes during Fridays. However, the day can still be used for school activities such as school programs, departmental events, or club activities.

Blocks of subject schedules will then shift from the previous Monday-Tuesday (MT) and Wednesday-Thursday-Friday (WThF) to MT and Wednesday-Thursday (WTh).

Considering the current learning situation, this will significantly benefit not just the students but also the teachers. Omitting Friday means an extra whole day for the students and the teachers to relieve stress and prevent physical or mental problems either through rest or engaging in other activities.

 Another benefit would be improved class attendance. With school hours cramped within a shorter span of school days, there is a lesser chance of being absent due to online learning interruptions such as weather conditions, loss of power, internet problems, or gadget malfunctions.

Moreover, this setup will ultimately reduce financial costs. Online learning requires operating expenses on electricity, internet, mobile data, and gadget maintenance. Although classes may still consist of the same number of hours, fewer days still saves electricity and maintenance costs as gadgets have to be turned on and off fewer times. For internet or mobile data, the new class schedule will certainly benefit those time-based promos or metered connections users.

If there could be a possible disadvantage of these shortened school days, one could think of the impact of cramping the required class hours for the subjects within a smaller span of days which leads to longer class periods.

For example, a three-hour per week subject would only need one hour per period scheduled from the previous WThF scheme. On the contrary, it would take the same subject with the same threshold per week one and a half hours per period when omitting Fridays.

Studies have significantly suggested that shorter class periods are better for students. One reason is that majority of the students have a short attention span which makes longer class periods impractical.

However, this disadvantage would barely impact the Marians since it will only shorten the WThF subjects to two days on WTh. With the two-day set-up of MT subjects already in place before, time lengths of class periods within WTh are not something new for the students to adjust into.

Ultimately, Friday as a free day in SMCTI is not only for free but is also packed with freebies of physical, mental, and academic boost for the students and teachers. However, to maximize its benefits, it will still depend on how you answer this final question: if Friday is a free day, how will you spend it?