The Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday reiterated its guidelines on class suspensions, amid rains brought by the southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoon “Butchoy” (Nepartak).
In an advisory, DepEd emphasized that classes in affected areas would be automatically suspended based on the storm warning signal declared by the state weather bureau.
In the absence of storm warning signals, local government units are in charge of announcing cancellation of classes.
READ: Class suspensions on July 8, 2016 due to ‘Butchoy’
“The Department of Education (DepEd) reiterates this to guide parents and help ensure the safety of students in the event of typhoons, flooding, and other weather disturbances and calamities,” the department said in a statement.
“Cancellation and suspension of classes are observed directly from the weather bulletins of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa),” it added.
Classes in affected areas will be suspended under the following storm warning signals:
· Signal No. 1: pre-school and kindergarten
· Signal No. 2: pre-school, kindergarten, elementary, and high school (including senior high school)
· Signal No. 3: all levels
DepEd said storm warning signals declared by Pagasa at 10 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. of the following day would be followed for the cancellation of classes for the whole day, while signals declared at 11 a.m. would automatically suspend afternoon classes on the same day.
In the absence of class suspension announcements, the department called on parents to practice discretion on deciding whether to send their children to school.
Various local government units have announced class suspensions on Friday due to the effects of Butchoy, which is expected to exit the Philippine area of responsibility this afternoon and has further weakened after slamming Taiwan.
Pagasa said weather in Metro Manila would improve by Sunday night or Monday, while the whole country would have better weather by Monday or Tuesday.
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