BACK TO REMOTE LEARNING Sylvia Aquino, Alternative Learning System teacher and Grade 4 adviser, checks school materials at Pinyahan Elementary School in Quezon City on Tuesday, as the city government recommends the suspension, beginning that day, of in-person classes and return to alternative modes of learning. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — The Metro Manila regional office of the Department of Education (DepEd) has reminded public school heads that they should not compel teachers to report to work in person when on-site classes are suspended amid the extreme heat brought by the El Niño phenomenon.
Regional Director Jocelyn Andaya issued on Friday Regional Memorandum No. 408, reiterating that teachers and administrative workers are not required to go to schools for duty, “except those who are mandated to render security, safety, finance, engineering, sanitation, health and disaster response duties.”
This also applies to “mobile teachers” or facilitators of Alternative Learning System (ALS), DepEd’s flexible learning program mainly for out-of-school youth and adults.
READ: Heat turns PH classrooms into ovens: What to know
Guidelines
The policy, the memo noted, is in line with the DepEd Order No. 037, series of 2022, outlining the guidelines on the cancellation or postponement of classes and work in schools during natural disasters, calamities and power interruptions.
It also pointed to separate memoranda last year directing the implementation in schools of “mitigating measures” during intense heat.
“School heads are reminded to … switch to alternative delivery modes (ADM) in cases of unfavorable weather, such as, but not limited to, extreme heat, which poses health risks hindering learning and productivity,” the memo read.
READ: Central Luzon teachers want remote work during extreme heat
Teacher groups’ concerns
Friday’s issuance was in response to teacher groups’ concerns regarding reports of some public schools in the capital region requiring teachers to still come to work despite class suspensions and implementation of ADM.
Benjo Basas, chair of the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition, said his group made an appeal to the DepEd’s central office to make the same clarification at the national level.
Latest data as of Thursday show that 7,188 schools, or 15 percent of the total 47,678 public schools managed by DepEd have shifted to ADM. Of the number, 430 schools are in Metro Manila.
The heat index reached a “danger” level of as high as 46 degrees Celsius in Aparri town, Cagayan province, at around 5 p.m. on Friday according to the latest bulletin of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.