January, the Department of Education (DepEd) implemented an intervention known as “catch-up Fridays” with the end goal of reducing illiteracy among students from grade levels up to secondary, and aims to expand knowledge when it comes to peace, health, and values. Not only that, but also catch up to the aggravated loss that students have experienced during the pandemic era. While this intervention was clearly beneficial for both the students and the overall state of our country, given that, according to the World Bank, 9 out of 10 Filipinos aged 10 experience a hard time reading simple structured texts, we could not help but observe that there is clearly a thin line between what DepEd deems feasible and what both the students and teachers need at the moment.

As of now, we are in the midst of adjusting because, according to Philstar, it is expected that we will start the next school year by July. This is part of the proposal by the Department of Education to bring back the old school calendar. Because of that, we don't have any choice but to rush our school and academic-related work. Isn't it ironic that despite the rush, we still need to attend our classes every Friday just to participate in the catch-up subjects, even though they are not graded? Aside from that, class hours are being shortened because of the extreme heat that we are experiencing. For these reasons, it is very obvious that catch-up Friday is really complicated, as it consumes the time that could still be used in doing our subject-related works.

We believe that catch-up Fridays are redundant to learners as they duplicate the existing curriculum. According to Hernando-Malipot (2024) the catch-up fridays' main purpose is to address the education crisis of the Philippines. It aims to improve the basic education and strengthen the foundational, social, and other essential skills of the learner. However, we believe that this solution is merely superficial, it may be used to aid alleviate the crisis but simply insufficient to solve it. Furthermore, it brings more burden and problems to teachers just to enact this program. "After a month of implementing Catch-Up Fridays, it is the teachers who bear the brunt of additional workload in preparation and implementation,” ACT stated.

The teachers are already busy managing the many students they handle, adding the burden to exert more effort just to enact this barely effective program is unjust and oblivious to the burden that teachers are already facing. “Due to the lack or insufficiency of books or materials, teachers are forced to spend money on photocopying reading materials,” the group added. The salary of a teacher is barely enough to even afford minimal living, it is presumptuous to even make the teachers spend a dime just to make this program work with uncertain success. Consequently, this is why we believe that catch-up Fridays are ineffective and redundant. Instead of continuing this program, it is more beneficial if the Department of Education (DepEd) exert more effort in finding and researching a better way to address this education crisis.