Kindly refer to this text for reference: https://region3.deped.gov.ph/sanjose/deped-introduces-catch-up-fridays-to-enhance-reading-skills-nationwide/#:~:text=2024%20%E2%80%9CCatch%2Dup%20Friday%E2%80%9D,K%20to%2012%20basic%20education

It discusses the initiative Catch-up Fridays. It is "designed to transform the educational landscape, addressing concerns about low student reading skills as highlighted at state and international surveys (Dela Rosa, 2024)". Despite the low literacy scores of the students in the Philippines, the DepEd can be commended for the effort aimed at addressing issues that have taken long to come to the surface. This is in view of the fact that through authentic pedagogy, the program aims at developing interesting and purposeful learning processes that children would cherish. The focus of the program is to improve reading skills through the "Drop Everything and Read (DEAR)" program, which would clearly and practically address one of the most basic educational deficits. If well executed, this approach may help take concrete steps on improving the reading abilities of Filipino students. At the same time, Catch-up Fridays has a holistic view with much broader developmental objectives as it emphasizes Filipino core values and peace education. This design reflects that education does not purely refer to its association with skill building in academics but with emotional intelligence and social awareness. 

In this regard, having at least a day for a week devoted to these activities is rather revolutionary, but at the same time, it may put too much pressure on the highly extended educational system, both for teachers and students. A day of make-up learning may not adequately address the educational struggles faced by the children over the years, and it might put the students and educators under pressure to achieve a considerable amount of learning in such a short span of time. However, five years are not enough to earn drastic worthwhile changes in literacy and overall development and learning in an institution that is already cluttered with problems such as lack of funds in school and numerous students enrolled in a classroom. We hope that this activity will be continuously improved and that this DepEd initiative will be sustained in the future.