Extreme heat leads to shorter class hours, modular learning in some Visayas schools

FANS OF ALL SIZES Grade 1 pupils at Pinyahan Elementary School in Quezon City finish their seatwork on Monday without worrying too much about the summer
heat as their classroom is cooled down by several electric fans in the absence of expensive air-conditioning units. INQUIRER file photo / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

TACLOBAN CITY — Several schools in the Visayas have shortened class days and adopted modular learning to spare the students from extreme summer heat.

In Eastern Visayas, at least 788 public schools are now implementing modular or limited in-person classes amid the sweltering heat, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).

At the Leyte National High School, in-person classes are being held every Monday and Tuesday only.

Bernie Jude Lamograr, information officer of the Leyte National High School which has over 10,000 students, said they started distributing modules that the students would have to answer in the three days they were not inside the classrooms.

“This move is intended to decongest (the school) and lessen the heat,” he said in an interview on May 17.

Since the summer started, he said about 20 to 30 students in the Leyte National High School experienced hyperventilation daily.

Officials of the Cirilo Roy Montejo National High School also resorted to blended learning due to the hot weather, based on a memorandum issued by principal Liezel Pulga dated May 15.

The same policy was also adopted by some elementary schools in Tacloban.

Jasmin Calzita, DepEd Eastern Visayas information officer, gave an assurance that the delivery of education in the region would not be affected.

Calzita said about 115,262 students were affected by the shift in learning methods.

Under DepEd Order Number 037, schools could shift to modular distance learning due to natural calamities, disasters, and human-induced hazards to ensure learning continuity.

There are 4,474 public elementary and secondary schools across the region involving 1.28 million students.

For several days now, Eastern Visayas has been experiencing extreme heat ranging from 34 degrees Celsius up to 46 degrees Celsius.

Mayor Alfred Romualdez said he would not stop school officials from implementing measures to address the hot weather.

“I will fully support (their) recommendation because they are the ones who are in touch with the students every day,” he said in a press conference on Wednesday.

In Western Visayas, 2,179 public schools or 53.82 % of the total number of educational facilities in the region have implemented distance learning as of May 11, according to DepEd.

Of the number, 441 had implemented modular distance learning, 138 were doing online distance learning, while 1,600 were implementing blended learning modality.

The DepEd in Western Visayas, however, had yet to release a breakdown of the schools using distance learning modes.

In Central Visayas, DepEd gave school administrators the discretion to suspend classes during extremely hot weather.

Lawyer Fiel Almendra, assistant regional director of DepEd-Central Visayas, said there was no policy of outright suspension of classes if an area registers a heat index of 42° Celsius or above.

However, he stressed the need to assess whether the learners and the teachers would be exposed to extreme heat.

Almendra said teachers should shift from in-person classes to blended learning modalities in order not to sacrifice the required number of days that schoolchildren should be in their classroom.

“They should shift at once to alternative learning method so that the 203 days in school should be completed,” he said. With reports from Joey Marzan and Ador Vincent Mayol, Inquirer Visayas

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