Tabada: Consider weather in change of academic year

CEBU, Philippines - Local state weather bureau stressed that weather should be the primary consideration on the shift of academic calendar.

Engineer Oscar Tabada of PAGASA Mactan said authorities should take note that weather patterns in the country vary due to the archipelagic nature of the Philippines.

“Climate is very important. This should be considered before deciding to change the academic calendar. Weather is important. And because our country is an archipelago, seasons vary. It may be raining in Luzon but not in Visayas,” Tabada said.

He added that rainy season in Luzon may not mean the same thing in Visayas.

“Sa akong side ana kinahanglan na tun-an pag maayo. They should study and conduct deliberation. Una na sila mag come up ug decision nga usbon ang sugod sa klase. Lahi-lahi man gud nag klima. There should be consultation,” Tabada explained.

PAGASA data shows that Visayas does not experience typhoon but mostly southwest monsoon during the months of June and July, the usual start of the classes in the country but Northern Luzon is most-hit when weather systems develop during this period.

“Every quarter man gud lain-lain nga areas ang kasagaran agian sa bagyo. January to March, Central Visayas and Samar Leyte area na mostly. During April to June, Luzon and Bicol areas. July to September, Northern Luzon and extreme Luzon,” Tabada enumerated.

However, he cautioned that the absence of typhoon guarantees no rain.

“Di man gud na bagyo ra ang bantayan ana. Let’s talk about water mass. Bisan bagyo sa laing lugar nya wala sa atoa, wa nagpasabot nga wala tay ulan. Ang ulan dako man kaayo’g epekto ana labaw pa nang mountain barangays. The consultations must not focus on tropical cyclones

Rainfall pattern in PAGASA Visayas showed that the June until December has the most concentration of amount of rain water dumped in the region.

July and October both have the same average number of days with rain in a month having at 16 days, besting other months.

September shortly followed the list with 15 days, while an average of 14 rainy days hit the months of June, August, November and December. April has the least number of rainy days with only six days.

February has nine days, January with 12 days, while both March and May has eight rainy days.

The University of the Philippines, Ateneo De Manila University, and La Salle recently announced that they are adopting the new academic calendar and will open the school year in August instead of the usual June.

With this, Tabada said he respected the universities’ independent decision making nature but emphasized that the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Department of Education (DepEd) should study the matter.

”These schools are independent. They can decide on their own. But other schools under CHED and DepEd, there should be consultation and weighing of options before creating a recommendation for the change of schedule,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tabada assured that Valentines’ Day will not be rainy despite a little gloomy weather the past days.

”We have been experiencing cloudiness now. But this Friday up to Sunday, sunny weather na ta,” he said.— (FREEMAN)