Metro Manila teachers push for unified class suspensions amid heat wave
Credit to Author: Cristina Chi| Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2025 15:16:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — A teachers' group in Metro Manila wants the government to enforce region-wide class suspensions when PAGASA issues dangerous heat warnings.
This comes after some local government units (LGUs) canceled face-to-face classes on Monday while others continued in-person learning.
The Teachers' Dignity Coalition's (TDC) National Capital Region chapter called for an automatic class suspension system across Metro Manila. Only about half of the region's 17 LGUs suspended in-person classes in response to PAGASA's forecast of dangerous heat levels on Monday, March 4.
The state weather bureau had warned that Science Garden in Quezon City could experience a heat index as high as 46°C, placing the city among three areas nationwide under the "danger" classification where temperatures were expected to range from 45°C to 46°C. These scorching temperatures pose a significant risk of heat-related illnesses.
READ: How to stay safe during extreme heat? Here's what health experts say.
Currently, individual LGUs make decisions on class suspensions under Department of Education (DepEd) Order No. 22, s. 2024.
"Metro Manila is a small and compact geographic unit. Implementing a region-wide class suspension should not be as complex as in larger provinces governed by a single governor," said Jim Lester Beleno, spokesperson of TDC's Metro Manila chapter.
This current "piecemeal" approach to heat-related class suspensions could lead to "inconsistencies" and place students and teachers at risk, according to the group.
"For example, you cannot travel from South Caloocan to North Caloocan without passing through Quezon City. This morning, while Caloocan LGU announced the suspension of face-to-face classes, Quezon City schools continued their classes," Beleno said.
"A blanket suspension based on a unified regional scheme would eliminate disparities in implementation and ensure a uniform response that prioritizes everyone's safety," Beleno added.
Call for DepEd leadership. The group's spokesperson also urged the DepEd to take the lead in coordinating with local governments to create a unified approach or scheme for class suspensions that would ensure the safety of all students and teachers in Metro Manila.
"We appreciate the intention behind DepEd Order No. 22, but its effectiveness depends on consistent application," he said.
Meanwhile, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines has also urged the government to address the underlying infrastructure problems exacerbated by extreme heat rather than settling for suspension policies.
"The suspension of classes is necessary but merely a band-aid solution to a systemic problem," ACT Philippines Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said in a statement. "Our students and teachers suffer not just from extreme weather but from the government's chronic neglect of our education infrastructure."
Quetua detailed specific problems that make classrooms particularly vulnerable during heat waves. "Aside from the heat, the condition of the school is the bigger issue making classrooms unbearably hot. The students are cramped due to a lack of classrooms, and most schools have no clinic, medicine, or nurse," he said in Filipino.
Proposals. ACT outlined five measures they believe are necessary:
Impact on learning. Record-breaking heat driven by the climate crisis has forced hundreds of schools in the Philippines to forego days of in-person learning for the past two years.
While DepEd has urged these schools — both through pronouncements and official policy — to pivot to distance learning during weather-related class suspensions, teachers have told Philstar.com that in-person activities remain difficult to replicate online or through modules.
The time lost is believed to set back DepEd's efforts to improve the Philippines’ flatlining performance in international assessments and address the learning crisis.
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