Class suspensions due to extreme heat cited as reason
AS schools nationwide continue to suspend in-person classes due to extreme heat, a teachers group yesterday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to revert to the June to March school calendar for academic year 2024-2025 instead of pursuing the planned phased transition.
Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) national chairperson Benjo Basas said there is an urgent need to return to the old school calendar, noting that what happened in 2023 when many schools suspended face-to-face classes and implement alternative distance learning due to extremely hot temperature is again happening.
“Dapat madaliin na ng Department of Education ang pagbabalik sa old school calendar kung saan ‘yung ating klase ay magsisimula sa June at magtatapos sa March (The Department of Education should really hasten the return to the old school calendar wherein classes starts on June and end in March),” Basas said.
“Sa tingin namin kaya na itong gawin ngayon or hindi na magtagal. At least by next school year, 2024-2025 (We think this can be done now. At least by next school year 2024-2025),” he added.
Basas said under the current DepEd plan, there will be a phased transition before the full return to the old school calendar, with the next school year still ending in the last week of May 2025. The school calendar will fully revert to the old schedule two or even three years from now.
“Sa tingin namin kaya itong gawin dahil kung itutuloy pa din ng DepEd ito, magsa-suffer talaga ang ating mga bata na eventually magka-cut ng klase, at ang ating mga guro (We think this can be done since if the DepEd will continue this, students will really suffer, and some might even cut classes, as well as our teachers),” he said.
On Monday, Basas urged the DepEd to shorten class hours to mitigate the impact of heat during school days, and to accelerate the transition to the old school calendar by ending the 2024-2025 school year by mid-April next year.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, echoed TDC and said the DepEd should shorten the transition period.
“The shorter the transition, the better at ‘yan ang isa sa titignan natin at kung kayang i-rekomend sa DepEd na i-shorten ang transition, at aminado naman ako na hindi kaya ang instant
(The shorter the transition, the better. We are looking into it and we will see if we can recommend that to the DepEd because we know for a fact that we cannot do it in an instant),” Gatchalian told the Kapihan sa Senado media forum.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, DepEd opened classes from June to October when it transitioned to blended learning. Since then, the academic calendar has changed to August to May.
Gatchalian said the old school calendar is better since learners are already on vacation from April to May when the summer season is at its peak, therefore, chances of them getting ill due to extreme heat is low.
Gatchalian said that the suggestion of some sectors to install aircon units in every classroom of public schools is challenging due to budget issues.
The DepEd issued last February an order adjusting the end of the current school year from June 15 to May 31. The same order also set the opening and closing dates for school year 2024-2025 at July 16, 2024 and May 16, 2025, respectively.
DepEd Assistant Secretary and Deputy Spokesperson Francis Cesar Bringas earlier said school heads have the authority to suspend in-person classes due to the extreme heat and to implement blended learning modalities instead.
He added that teachers and students may also wear clothes that are comfortable during hot weather other than the prescribed school uniform.
The DepEd has yet to comment or issue a statement on the TDC’s latest appeal.
MORE SUSPENSIONS
Meanwhile, an updated data provided by the DepEd Thursday afternoon showed that the number of schools that suspended face-to-face classes is now at 4,769.
The number represents 10.55 percent of the total number of preschools to senior high schools in the country.
The DepEd said Region 6 (Western Visayas) has the highest number of schools implementing alternative distance learning mode with 1,015.
Next is Central Luzon with 811 schools; Region 12 (SOCCSKSARGEN) with 801; Region 1 (Ilocos Region) with 773; Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) with 408, and Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) with 222.
In Metro Manila, the number of schools implementing alternative mode of education decreased to 168 from Wednesday’s 183.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court approved a flexible work arrangement for trial court judges and personnel from April 5 to May 31.
Court Administrator Raul Villanueva said the working hours or court operation starting April 5 to May 31 “shall be from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. to prevent health complications that may be caused by the extreme heat and weather conditions.”
“During the above period, Saturday duty shall be from 7:30 a.m. to 12 noon.The Executive Judges shall act on petitions for bail and other urgent matters on Saturday afternoons after 12 noon, and on Sundays, official holidays, and special days when exceptional circumstances so warrant,” Villanueva added.
LOW PRESSURE AREA
Amid the sweltering heat, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) yesterday said the public can get a respite as it announced that it has monitored a low pressure area (LPA) outside of the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR).
In a public weather forecast at 4 p.m yesterday, weather forecaster Chenel Dominguez said the LPA was some 770 km southeast of General Santos City in South Cotabato.
“We have a low pressure area outside our Philippine Area of Responsibility and this was last monitored 770 km southeast of General Santos, South Cotabato,” said Dominguez.
“Because of this, Davao region and Soccsksargen will experience cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers,” added Dominguez.
It was not immediately clear if the LPA will enter the PAR or if it will develop into a tropical depression.
In a weather bulletin, PAGASA said the two regions will have “cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms” due to the trough or extension of the LPA.
PAGASA said Metro Manila and the rest of the country will have partly cloudy and cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms due to easterlies and localized thunderstorms.
DRY SEASON PROTOCOL
Valenzuela City Rep. Eric Martinez called for the implementation of a comprehensive government protocol specifically tailored for the dry season in response to what he said is the “increasingly evident impact of climate change.”
“This is the new normal with global warming, and PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) also has to adapt to this new normal,” Martinez said in a statement. “Kung may protocol sa tag-ulan, dapat may protocal na rin sa tag-init (If there’s a protical for the rainy seasn, there should also be for the drug season).”
Martinez stressed the need “for proactive measures to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, and to enhance our preparedness knowing the country’s vulnerability to natural disasters.”
The administration lawmaker proposed the elevation of PAGASA as the primary authority in weather-related decision-making processes, saying that the agency, equipped with expertise and more reliable data than local government units, should spearhead policy implementation.
Because of this, Martinez said PAGASA “should assume a leadership role in critical matters such as the suspension of classes during adverse weather conditions, thereby streamlining decision-making processes in response mechanisms across the nation.”
“Sila (PAGASA) talaga ‘yung dapat pakinggan ng lahat, hindi si mayor na lang ang magsabi, ‘mainit, sige canceled ang klase (The public should really be listening to the PAGASA, not the mayor who will say, ‘it’s so hot, okay, classes are canceled),” he said.
JAILS
Bureau of Corrections Director General Gregorio Catapang Jr. Yesterday ordered his subordinates to ensure there is steady supply of drinking water for inmates not only in the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City but in the six other operating prison and penal farms nationwide amid the hot temperature.
Aside from the NBP, the agency also operates six other penal farms in the country namely the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm in Palawan, San Ramon Prison and Penal Farm in Zamboanga City, Sablayan Prison and Penal Farm in Occidental Mindoro, Leyte Regional Prison and the Correctional Institute for Women in Mandaluyong City.
Catapang said this is meant to prevent inmates from suffering dehydration.
“We have to drink lots of water, the best defense to the scorching heat,” Catapang said.
The BuCor chief also directed S/Supt. Maria Cecilia Villanueva, acting director for Health and Welfare Services chief of the NBP hospital, to make rounds from time to time to check on the status of inmates.
“Our facilities are congested and due to the extreme heat that we are experiencing, our persons deprived of liberty suffered the most, so I want to check on them,” Catapang added.
Villanueva earlier issued an advisory to officials manning the NBP and other penal farms to ensure the implementation of health programs, services and provision of medicines, including supplements, to prevent diseases and other health conditions among inmates.
She said she also advised them to be watchful for signs and symptoms of diseases among inmates prevalent during summer, such as sunburn, flu, stomach ailments, skin disease and sore eyes or conjunctivitis.
On the other hand, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) said some 600 inmates or persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) have contracted boils due to extreme heat condition inside their detention cells.
“Many of these were reported here in NCR (National Capital Region), there are more or less 600 reported cases,” BJMP chief Director Ruel Rivera told the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” public briefing.
Rivera said there are a few cases of boils in jails in other regions but did not give figures.
On Wednesday, Rivera told a radio interview that boil cases among inmates in NCR has yet to reach 100.
Rivera yesterday stressed that the BJMP has adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the scorching heat, including installation of additional ventilation system inside jails throughout the country.
BJMP spokesman Chief Inspector Jayrex Bustinera said the 600 boil cases among inmates were reported in March.
Bustinera said such cases are expected during the summer season. He noted that the bureau recorded 4,545 boil cases among the inmates from March to May last year.
“It’s not extraordinary, that happens. Based on our data last year, March to May, we have around 4,500 cases,” he said.
Bustinera said they expect these boil cases during the summer period will not exceed last year’s figures.
“We are expecting, more or less, the same or lesser because we have smaller jail population now,” he said, pointing out that “last year, our congestion rate is 370 percent.
Now, we are at 334 percent. Our PDLs during that time of monitoring is 127,000. This year, we have 118,000. There is reduction of almost 10,000,” he said. — With Raymond Africa, Victor Reyes and Wendell Vigilia
