Pupils at 7,000 public schools in the Southeast Asian country were sent home last week due to unusually hot weather in many areas that forecasters have linked to the effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon.Teacher Erlinda Alfonso, who works at a public elementary school in Quezon City near the capital, said she did not know what was worse for her pupils – sweltering in an overcrowded classroom or trying to study at home.
“If there’s something they could not understand, their parents or siblings are often not at home because they need to earn a living,” said the 47-year-old, who also heads the city’s association of public school teachers.The Philippines had one of the world’s longest school shutdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, which highlighted the education gap faced by children from low-income families without computers or sufficient internet access.
Nearly half or 46% of teachers said classrooms have only one or two electric fans, highlighting inadequate ventilation measures to deal with rising temperatures. Children are particularly susceptible to heat stroke, and Unicef said prolonged exposure to intense heat also impacts their ability to concentrate and learn.
Asked to comment, a DepEd spokesman said its policy of letting head teachers decide when to switch to online or offline home classes “provides a more immediate and effective response to heat conditions rather than knee-jerk changes that would further compromise learning recovery”.
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