DepEd to review class suspension policy to balance safety of students, prevent loss of school days
The Department of Education (DepEd) has been ordered by its secretary, Sonny Angara, to review its existing policies on class suspension during typhoons to strike a balance between ensuring the safety of students and teachers and preventing too many losses of school days.
In an interview on Radyo Singko 92.3 News FM, DepEd undersecretary for governance and field operations Revsee Escobedo revealed that Angara has pushed for the "immediate" evaluation of the policy after the Philippines experienced six tropical cyclones in the last few months.
"Secretary Angara wants us to speed up this review. His instruction was that by next week, we should report our draft amendments to DO (DepEd Order) 37," Escobedo said in Filipino.
Under the policy, class suspensions during increment weather depend on the discretion of local government leaders. Public schools are mandated to follow this rule while private schools only have the option to abide by it.
The order also states that in-person, online classes and work from Kindergarten to Grade 12 as well as in Alternative Learning System (ALS) are automatically canceled if the schools are situated in LGUs under Tropical Cyclone Wind Signals (TCWS) 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, issued by the Philippine Atmospheric and Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
However, in places where no TCWS was issued despite the presence of strong winds and flooding, the local chief executive will be the one to decide whether class suspensions should be pushed.
Escobedo admitted that the observance of DO 37 may no longer be beneficial to students and teachers given past incidences.
"Classes are automatically suspended in areas under Signal Number 1. If you would notice, Signal Number 1 is just like a 'warning.' The real status on the ground was that it was sunny, with just occasional drizzle. But look at the effect–classes were automatically suspended which translates to school days lost. And these lost school days are hard to recover," Escobedo said.
"What Secretary Angara wants is to have a balance between prioritizing the safety and welfare of our teachers and learners but on the other hand ensure that the class suspensions are reasonable and would not further exacerbate the learning crisis that we are currently in," he continued.
According to data gathered by the department, the highest number of learning days lost due to suspensions came from schools in the Cordillera Administrative Region, totaling 36 since the start of the school year in July.
This was followed by the schools in the Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley with 30; Central Luzon with 29; Calabarzon with 28; and Bicol Region with 23.
Officials at DepEd will have a meeting with the Department of Interior and Local Government as well as PAGASA to revise DO 37. Among the solutions the department is deliberating are conducting make-up classes, having longer class hours per day, and cutting the academic break short.
"Some regional directors especially in Region 5, Region 6 and CAR have already committed to conduct make-up classes on Saturdays. Other schools said they will allot additional time, for example in Kinder, the four hours [of classes] a day will be five hours a day, to compensate for the lost days," Escobedo explained.
"Other regional directors said their academic break on November 25 to 29 will instead be used for make-up classes," he added.
This November, four typhoons were simultaneously active near the country in a span of just 10 days; namely, storms Yinxing (Marce), Toraji (Nika), Usagi (Ofel), and Man-Yi (Pepito).
These have led several areas to suspend classes from Nov. 18 to 20 to give time for Filipinos to recover from the storm. (with reports from Elizabeth Marcelo)
