10 students collapse due to heat amid power outages in Occidental Mindoro
MANILA, Philippines — Ten students across four schools in Occidental Mindoro collapsed on Wednesday due to heat amid frequent power outages affecting the town of San Jose, according to the municipality’s disaster risk reduction and management office.
The San Jose Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO) said in a Facebook post that it extended immediate medical assistance to 10 students who experienced discomfort in class throughout the day – four from the San Jose National High School, three from Pedro T. Mendiola Sr. Memorial National High School, two from the Philippine Central Islands College and one from Occidental Mindoro State College.
The warmer temperatures brought about by the dry season and brownouts in the area “caused problems with the health of students from different schools,” MDRRM officer Gil Gendrano said in Filipino.
“All the residents in the municipality are gravely affected by the extremely warm weather that coincides with long hours of brownout. In a single day, we experience longer hours of brownout than hours with electricity,” Gendrano added.
According to the MDRRMO, the students are now in safe condition.
A poll by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers in March showed that most or 67% of the 7,800 teachers surveyed said they experienced "intolerable heat" inside their classrooms at the start of the dry season, resulting in students' difficulty paying attention to lessons and increased absences.
The Department of Education previously said that it is studying the possibility of returning to the old academic calendar that will allow students to take their vacations during the summer months of April and May.
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