Return to April-May summer break pushed

MANILA, Philippines — After more than 100 students in Cabuyao City, Laguna were rushed to the hospital due to heat exhaustion, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian proposed yesterday that schools revert back to the previous calendar where the vacation was during the hot and dry months of April to May.

“We need to bring back that (school calendar). There’s a logic to why that was put in place. Two reasons: number one, our elections are always during summer so people will go out to vote because when it’s the rainy season, people will not go out to vote,” Gatchalian told reporters in Filipino.

He reminded school authorities to keep their students safe and healthy to prevent similar incidents, noting that many illnesses can be triggered because of high temperatures.

“Secondly, summer’s the time students can go out, spend time with their families as opposed to during the rainy season,” he said.

He admitted there could be some transition needed as the change of the school opening to August was because of the pandemic.

“We have to respond to the pandemic. If your remember there were many lockdowns before and the typhoon season also…but it’s time to bring it back especially now that it’s normal already,” said Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on basic education.

Online survey

A teachers group has also joined calls to revert the school calendar to its pre-pandemic schedule, citing difficulties encountered by teachers and learners alike during the summer months.

In an online survey conducted from March 24 to 27 by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) participated by over 11,700 public school teachers, 87 percent had students who cannot focus on their lessons due to intolerable heat in classrooms.

“About 37 percent said that the summer heat triggered the existing medical conditions of teachers and students. There are 40 percent of respondents who noted that more learners have been missing classes since the summer months started,” the teachers’ group added.

Based on the survey, ACT found that classrooms of most respondent teachers rely on electric fans for ventilation.

“Still, the classroom atmosphere remains inconducive to learning as only 0.5 percent of respondents deem their classroom conditions as pleasant. About 32 percent said that the temperature inside their classrooms is bearable, while 67 percent noted that the heat is intolerable,” said ACT.

“Sixty two percent of the teachers surveyed were teaching in classes with 36 to 50 students. About 27 percent have classes numbering 35 learners or less each, while 11 percent have large classes of 50 or more learners,” it added.

ACT chairman Vladimir Quetua said many students and teachers have complained of headache, dizziness and nose bleed.

ACT said the survey respondents also suggested different ways to address the problem, such as installing air conditioners in classrooms, changing the class schedules to avoid the hottest hours of the day and implementing blended learning.

Suspensions

The DepEd has yet to issue a statement regarding calls to revert to the old school calendar schedule.

But DepEd spokesman Michael Poa said schools may suspend classes if conditions become unbearable, such as due to extreme heat. “Subject to reportorial requirements with the Division Office, our school heads/principals have always had the discretion to suspend in-person classes if the environment is no longer conducive to learning. That’s on a case-to-case basis,” he told The STAR.

“Further, it is already our SOP (standard operating procedure) that whenever in-person classes are suspended, learners are immediately switched to blended learning or ADMs (alternative delivery modes),” he added.

Meanwhile, ACT maintained that blended learning is not the solution to address classroom shortage in the country as it would pass on the problem to the parents.

“Is the government willing to provide gadgets and internet support to every learner? It is not exactly an efficient solution to classroom shortage as it would cost about P280 billion to provide the 28 million learners with tablets alone, which are likely to malfunction in two to three years. Such amount is better invested in the construction of 140,000 classrooms. We really cannot see the logic behind this proposal,” said Quetua.

The ACT said it is a baseless claim that constructing 50,000 classrooms per year is impossible, noting that over 100,000 classrooms were constructed from 2014 to 2016. “From 2014 to 2018, the budget allocations for classroom construction ranges from P39 billion to P109 billion yearly. It has been done and it can be done if only the current administration was sincere in addressing the classroom crisis,” said Quetua.

DepEd received a budget of P710.6 billion this year, but only P15.6 billion was allocated for the construction of about 6,000 new classrooms.

The agency earlier said that it facing a shortage of at least 90,000 classrooms, on top of those that require major repairs. – Janvic Mateo