It’s not fun being a student during this pandemic. Your future is murky, online classes will forever be weird and not everyone can easily access it. So, let’s answer the question on every student’s mind: When will all the weirdness end?

The Department of Education (DepEd) has spoken. School life will go back to normal in August 2021.

Due to the enhanced community quarantine, the start of the academic year has been pushed back to mid-2021. “We have been having nationwide consultations. The leaning is towards August for opening,” says Education Secretary Leonor Briones during an interview with The Source. “Sangayon sa batas, we should open classes first week of June, up to the last day of August. ’Yun ang window namin. Ang mukhang trend na lumalabas is really for August.”

In order for the next school year to be in line with the original academic schedule, DepEd is looking into implementing Saturday stay-at-home classes. “Ang concern namin, gusto namin matapos din by March, but at the same time, mag-comply ng number of days which is required by law for students to be learning,” adds Briones.

All of these are tentative. For now, DepEd has to wait for the recommendation of the government’s COVID-19 taskforce.

Just last week, DepEd also announced that aspiring graduates will have to wait until the pandemic blows over. Graduation rites are postponed indefinitely. This caused students to ask their schools to end the semester early and proceed with a mass promotion, saying that this is the most humane and inclusive response to the country’s situation.

The University of the Philippines is one of the first academic institutions to end their semester early. Unfortunately, all students will receive deferred grades, meaning no one passes or fails their classes. Students will still be required to complete their deliverables until May 31, 2021.

Again, being a student at the time of this pandemic sucks. Let’s face it, not everyone is benefitting from online classes and it’s hard enough to learn through Zoom conference calls. Also, can we just admit how demoralizing it is to be an incoming graduate in 2020? It feels like our future has been flushed down the drain.

Right now, students will just have to wait and see what their school’s next move will be. Here’s hoping these institutions will find humane and inclusive solutions in such trying times.

Art by Kristine Paz-Yap