MANILA, Philippines — Consistent with warnings from international groups that a warming planet places people in climate-vulnerable countries at risk, the Department of Education’s move to allow blended learning can help protect students from the dangerous dry season heat, the Commission on Human Rights said.
In a statement on Tuesday, the human rights body said it welcomes DepEd’s reminders to schools to conduct blended learning to protect students from extreme heat during face-to-face classes.
The CHR said that while DepEd required schools to return to face-to-face classes in 2022, the department displayed “commendable responsiveness and adaptiveness” when it “adjusted their perspective on blended learning arrangements” recently following reports of students falling ill due to heat exhaustion.
The CHR cited findings from the International Labor Organization in 2019 that “extreme temperatures due to climate change would become a safety hazard for people living in climate change-vulnerable countries.”
“CHR supports DepEd’s decision to pursue blended and (alternative delivery mode of) learning to promote a safe learning environment for children pursuant to the Convention on the Rights of a Child, and a safe working environment for faculty and staff in line with international labor standards,” the human rights body said.
Several teachers and students have reported experiencing discomfort inside the classroom due to the hotter weather during the dry season. A survey among teachers in late March found that most felt "intolerable heat" (67% or 7,800 out of 11,700) inside the classroom, with the most reported impact being students' waning focus during lessons.
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The human rights body expressed support for DepEd’s decision to let school heads decide according to their respective circumstances, “acknowledging that each school may have different experiences and capacities in dealing with the dry season heat.”
Long-term solutions needed for persistsent gaps
CHR, however, called on DepEd to close the “persisting gaps” in distance learning which continues to place marginalized students at a disadvantage, according to the human rights body’s report on students’ access to education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“(Students) faced difficulties in affording decent-performance gadgets, access to stable internet, and other resources for online learning. Their home environments were barely conducive for attending online classes and accomplishing school work,” the human rights body said.
For long-term solutions, the CHR said that DepEd should heed the “recommendations of several teachers’ organizations” to construct more climate-resilient classrooms and address the inadequate number of classrooms and teachers.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers in April said that the government needs to focus on addressing shortages in education, including the lack of classroom facilities, instead of defaulting to the blended learning modality, which leaves some disadvantaged students behind.
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Vice President Sara Duterte, who heads DepEd, has said the department acknowledges the need to construct more classrooms to accommodate the growing student population in basic education.
According to the first Basic Education Report, which Duterte presented in January, DepEd’s budget in 2023 will allow it to build around 6,000 classrooms. This is only about 6.5% of the 91,000 classroom shortage it projected in August.
Overall, the agency still faces a backlog of around 190,000 school buildings that need minor to major repairs for various reasons, according to DepEd data.
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